High School badminton championships

Atlantis Leisure hosted the Oban High School annual Badminton Championships on Friday February 24, with more than 80 pupils taking part this year.

With such large entries, the day had to be split into two sections with the Under-14 boys competing in the morning session and the Under-16 and Under-19 sections held in the afternoon.

Sixth year pupils Morgan Gemmell, bottom right, and Ellie MacInnes, top right, played in their last school badminton tournament and held onto their singles titles, which they have both won every year. No mean feat given the strength of competitors in their groups. Trophies and shields were handed out throughout the day and following an appeal in The Oban Times in 2018, a full complement of them were up for grabs. The U14 Cameron Barbour Cup was this year won by S2 pupil Tobias Wilson and the U16 Stuart Barbour Cup was awarded to S4 pupil David Simpson, with these both donated by the Barbour family.

In the other categories, the winners were Lucas MacLeod and Finn MacKechnie (U14 boys’ doubles); David Simpson and George Pagan (U16 boys’ doubles); Ellie MacInnes and Rachel Carre (U19 girls’ doubles); and Innes MacCallum and Euan Dodds doubles).

PE teacher and event organiser Denise Gemmell said: “We had a brilliant day of badminton; all the pupils were so enthusiastic and thoroughly enjoyed the competition. That was the biggest entry we have ever had and it is important to host events such as this as it gives us something to work towards in our extra-curricular badminton club.”

She added: “We had experienced players there and some playing in a competition for the first time which was great. The sportsmanship was clearly evident and at the end of the day it is all about having fun and enjoying playing badminton. A big thank you to Active School Alan and Gillian for supporting the event.” (U19 boys’