Lothian player Julie MacPherson was the most successful player at this year’s East of Scotland Championships. Julie featured in all three finals and emerged successful in the ladies singles, retaining her title in the process, and in the ladies’ doubles with fellow Lothian player Sarah Bok. Entries were a little down on last year and unfortunately we were also hit by some last minute withdrawals as a result of various injuries and illness. Nonetheless, there was still plenty of excellent badminton on show on both days of the tournament.
The men’s singles final was a repeat of the final for the past 2 years. This time, however, Ben Torrance got the better of holder Matthew Carder. 21-19, 21-14 to win his first East title. As mentioned earlier, Julie MacPherson retained her ladies’ singles title by defeating Ben’s sister Ciara 21-14, 21-10 in the final. Julie then teamed up with fellow Lothian player Sarah Bok to win the ladies’ doubles, defeating top seeds Kirsten Geals and Victoria Wan 21-7, 21-14.
In the men’s doubles final, new champions were assured when Danny Leinster and Steven Stewart lined up against the young Scottish junior stars Christopher and Matthew Grimley. After winning a very close first game, Steven and Danny then lost the second game but came back to beat Christopher and Matthew 21-19, 8-21, 21-12 to claim their first East title.
In the mixed doubles, two scratch pairings contested the final with Jamie Neil and Kirsten Geals having just too much experience for Lothian’s Calum Atterbury and Julie MacPherson winning 21-13, 21-19. A special mention is merited for Lothian county players Keith Campbell and Suzanne Gray who performed very well to reach the semi finals of the mixed doubles.
The consolation events for players who lost their first match in the main event, again provided some very competitive and long matches. The winners of the consolation events were:
Men’s singles – Michael Allan
Ladies’ singles – Britt Ashton
Men’s doubles – Calum Atterbury and Robbie Paterson
Ladies’ doubles – Rachel Cameron and Basia Grodynska
Mixed doubles – Tommy Reynolds and Britt Ashton
Complete results from the tournament can be found at:
YonexActivcity East of Scotland Championships 2016
Prizes were presented by Christine Black, former president of BADMINTONscotland and Tournament Secretary, Ian Campbell. Tournament Referee Colin Campbell thanked the Officials of BADMINTONscotland, the staff at Meadowbank Sports Centre and the players for the high quality of play and their cooperation and sportsmanship throughout the weekend. He also expressed his thanks to the continuing sponsorship from Yonex and Activcity. Lothian Group is also greatly indebted to Gannon Sports who once again provided the prizes for the consolation events.
https://www.gannonsports.co.uk/