Neil Cottrill

Who is Neil Cottrill?

Neil Cottrill was born in Manchester in 1971. He started playing badminton as a 10 year old and subsequently won a string of English National junior titles, winning the boys doubles at U12, U14, U16 & U18 and the mixed doubles at U14 & U18.

Neil represented England at all age groups in events around Europe as a junior, winning the boys doubles in the U16 6 nations, Dutch junior, Danish Junior and won a bronze medal in the U18 European Junior.

Unfortunately his partner, John Quinn suffered a long term knee injury during the U18 season, leaving him without a regular partner for 2 years.

Once John recovered, the pair quickly became one of the top pairs in the UK, winning numerous county events, Friends Provident Grand Slam Series events and reaching the National Men's Doubles final, losing to Chris Hunt & Simon Archer.

Neil & John then went on the European Badminton Union circuit, where they were Czech Open champions. They soon progressed onto the World Grand Prix circuit, competing all round the world achieving a highest IBF men's doubles ranking of #12 in 1996.

The pair were in the GB Olympic squad and set for Olympic qualification for the Atlanta Games in 1996, but Neil was hit with a virus linked to overtraining which left him unable to train or compete for the 6 months prior to the games, leaving their participation impossible.