Six-time UK Armed Forces badminton champion hoping for glory in Belgium
She's done it all at service level as a six-time Inter Services badminton champion and multi-time RAF winner, but can Corporal Katie Witting secure a triumph in Belgium while representing the UK Armed Forces?
Cpl Witting is jetting off to the continent to represent the Forces in the 34th Magnum Tournament hosted by the Klein Boom Badminton Club in Putte, with teams from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain set to feature.
UKAF are competing in the doubles and mixed doubles events, and last month she sealed her sixth Inter Services title at RAF Halton defeating a flurry of new Army challengers who will provide more competition for places within the UK Armed Forces team that Cpl Witting captains.
"I don't know how I did it," said the RAF competitor when talking about her Inter Services win.
"This year was a lot harder than previous years. The Army had some new females that were a lot fitter than I am.
"An absolutely incredible tournament. I played out of my skin and was super happy with how it went."
Cpl Witting is also a regular competitor on the national circuit, winning the women's double tournament at the Norfolk Restricted in September and the women's title at the Herefordshire Senior Bronze in March 2024.
That busy schedule is a juggling act alongside her role within the Royal Air Force, with the player saying: "I don't work night shifts now so I get a lot of free time in the evenings and it's obviously my choice to play in the civilian leagues.
"I run the club here [at RAF Odiham] on a Wednesday so now I get a lot of opportunity to play and I was quite lucky that my long stretch of deployments came when Covid-19 was happening.
"Nobody was playing anyway so I got really lucky with that."
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