Brooke reaches final in Slovakia
Brooke Stalker adds to finals appearances
WEST FIFE badminton ace Brooke Stalker has added another final appearance to her growing collection after reaching the showpiece of a tournament on the continent.
The talented Dunfermline teenager, who at the end of 2022 won ladies under-19s gold at Badminton Scotland’s National Championships, travelled to Trencin, Slovakia, last weekend to play in the Slovak Junior 2023 event.
The competition is part of the Badminton Europe Junior International
Circuit and Brooke, who is the niece of the late Scotland international, and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Russell Hogg, teamed-up with her ladies doubles partner,
Ishbel McCallister, for the BWF (Badminton World Federation) junior ranking tournament.
Unseeded, the pair played their way through to the final, losing out to Chinese Taipei’s Lee Pin Yi and Liao Jui-Chi.
Competitors from across Europe, as well as Chinese Taipei, took part and Brooke and Ishbel defeated Nela Fliglova (Czech Republic) and Marija Paskotsi (Estonia) 21-18, 8-21, 21-12 in round one, before getting the better of Czech pair Petra Benisova and Tereza Cirokova (21-18, 24-22) to reach the quarterfinals.
There, they faced top seeds Katerina Koliasova and Katerina Osladilova, progressing in an epic threeset battle 15-21, 23-21, 23-21, before embarking on another in the semi-finals against Johanka Ivanovicova and Lea Vybochova, coming through 21-16, 18-21, 21-15.
Although they lost the final, 18-21, 18-21, Brooke’s mum, Karen, said that she was delighted to reach the final with Ishbel, in their first junior international tournament together.
On Wednesday Brooke, who earlier this year was named in Badminton Scotland’s national senior squad, and given access to sportscotland’s Institute of Sport programme, travelled to Cardiff to play in the
Yonex Welsh International Challenge, partnering with Eleanor O’Donnell in the ladies doubles, and Matthew Grimley in the mixed doubles.