National play in the Fair City
Perth hosts championship event
Scotland’s finest badminton players will descend on Perth this weekend for the national championships.
Olympic and Commonwealth shuttle stars are set to make a racket at the Fair City’s Bell’s Sports Centre with prestigious titles on the line.
The local charge will be led by Kinross ace Patrick MacHugh as he teams up with long-term partner Martin Campbell to defend their doubles crown.
MacHugh will also be out to keep hold of a mixed doubles title he won last year when he takes to the court with Hamilton’s Kirsty Gilmour.
For Kilmour, she is pursuing a seventh straight nationals singles title and begins her quest for glory on Saturday afternoon.
A win this year would bring her level with Joanna Flockhart, who won seven titles from 1973-1980 and a step closer to Anne Robertson’s nine titles, won over the course of 10 seasons from 1988-1998.
Gilmour, the Scottish Open Grand Prix champion, has lifted the YONEX Scottish National Championships trophy every year since 2012 and the top seed will start her campaign this year in the second round, having been granted a first round bye.
There she will play either Alice Campbell or Sarah Sidebottom when the women’s singles competition gets underway in Bell’s Sports Centre, Perth, this weekend.
As second seed, there is also a bye for Rachel Sugden, who is looking to build on the semi-final place she secured last year.
But her route to the latter stages is far from easy as either Basia
Kirsty Gilmour Grodynska or Lauren Middleton await in round two while Julie MacPherson – last year’s runnerup – could be a potential semi-final opponent.
Meanwhile, Kieran Merrilees is among those awarded a bye in the men’s singles first round, bidding for a sixth title at this level.
Defending champion Merrilees is the top seed once again but it’s set to be a keenly contested event with 30 players in the competition.
Matthew Carder, the only other man to have won the men’s singles title since 2014, is seeded second and receives a bye.
There could also be a sibling meeting in the form of Matthew and third/fourth seed Christopher Grimley, with the pair needing to get to the quarter-finals to take their place on opposing sides of the net.
In the mixed doubles, top seeds and reigning champions Gilmour and MacHugh come up against siblings Mark and Maria Leith.
The strength in depth of the men’s and mixed doubles field excites Badminton Scotland Chief Executive Anne Smillie.
“The national championships are always a time to celebrate the sport of badminton in Scotland and this year is no exception,” she said.
“It’s fantastic to see such strong fields once again this year, especially in the men’s and mixed doubles events where I’m sure the titles will be hotly contested.
“After the success of the TOTAL BWF World Championships and the Scottish Open Grand Prix last year, this will be another chance for badminton fans to see their heroes on home courts before they wear the saltire with pride at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.”
Men’s doubles and tournament favourites Adam Hall and Alex Dunn will automatically take their place in round two, as will second seeds Campbell and MacHugh.
But progression beyond there will not be as easy as the seedings may suggest for Campbell and MacHugh and they could face Christopher and Matthew Grimley in the second round, who are in red hot form having won the Swedish Junior last weekend.
Finally, women’s doubles top seeds Julie MacPherson and Eleanor O’Donnell, who won their first senior international title in Iceland last weekend, will open their campaign against Lauren Middleton and Sarah Sidebottom.
The Yonex Scottish National Championships are being staged at Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth courtesy of Perth and Kinross Council.
The competition will get underway on Friday at 5pm with finals to be contested on Sunday, February 4.
Tickets can be purchased on the door at Bell’s Sports Centre or in advance from Badminton Scotland.