Margaret Dignum won two gold medals for England at the European Veterans’ Championships in Norway, and there was gold as well for David Mahabir and Betty Bird.

Dignum won the WS80 singles class, defeating Jutta Baron of Germany 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-9) in the final.

She had earlier come through a five-game match in the semi-finals, beating Poland’s Miroslawa Butrym 3-2 (6-11, 11-5, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5).

The second gold came in the doubles, where she & Monika Maul of Sweden beat English pair Janice Crompton & Gillian Knightley 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-9) in the WD80 final. The podium ceremony is pictured above.

They had earlier beaten Sally Bax & Carol Judson 3-1 (11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9) in the semi-finals.

Mahabir’s gold was in the MS70 class, defeating Rein Lindmae of Estonia 3-1 (13-11, 11-9, 6-11, 13-11) in the final.

Bird won the round-robin WD85 category alongside Marianne Blasberg of Germany, winning all their three matches 3-0. Pam Butcher & Audrey Robinson finished third thanks to a good 3-2 win over a Czech pair.

There were also plenty of silver and bronze medals for the English contingent, in addition to the silvers won by Crompton & Knightley and Bax & Judson, and Butcher & Robinson’s bronze.

There was silver for Michele Reeves & Rosemary Rainton, who went down 3-1 (11-7, 4-11, 11-7, 11-3) to Marianne Blikken & Sonja Rasmussen of the host nation Norway in the WD50 class.

In the WD70, Sandra Rider & Monika Hussman of Germany were beaten 3-2 (10-12, 14-16, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9) by Susanne Pedersen of Denmark & Teresa Devaney of Ireland in the final.

Margaret Welsman got to the final of the WS75 class but had to settle for silver after going down 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-7) to Gizella Zacher of Hungary.

She had earlier staged a terrific comeback in the semi-finals, overcoming Collette Le Corvec of France 3-2 (7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10).

Robinson lost in the final of the WS85 to Blasberg, with her opponent coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2 (7-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 13-11). Blasberg earlier beat Bird in four, meaning Bird took a bronze.

There were also bronzes for John Payne (MS65), Carol Eckersley (WS70), Keith Powell (MS85), Paul Giles & Paul Whiting (MD60), Nigel Eckersley & Gerd Werner of Germany (MD70), Janet Brown & Margaret Welsman (WD75) and Keith Powell & Hans Westling of Sweden (MD85).

In the consolation events, Mike Rhodes & John Hook (WAL) beat Michel Menager & Remy Mosseri of France 3-2 (6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10) in the MD65 final.

There were semi-final defeats for Tulay Dundar (WS55), Carol Judson (WS80) and Andrew Eagles & Tom Lodziak (MD40).