Four weeks after our best Under 15 and Under 19 players demonstrated their skills at the Jack Kane Centre, it was the turn of the Under 13 and Under 17 age groups to demonstrate their badminton prowess at the Yonex MCFM East of Scotland Junior Gold Championships.
There were lots of entertaining and competitive matches throughout the weekend, including a 30-29 game and a match which went to 28-26 in the third. A special mention should be made for Calum Tsang and Nathan Luo who followed up a marathon 56 minute boys’ singles semi final which Calum narrowly edged, by joining forces to win an epic boys’ doubles semi final and then opposing each other again in the mixed semi final in another hotly contested match.
Lothian players were well represented in the tournament with Yingfan Wang winning two titles (boys’ singles and mixed doubles) in the under 13 age group. Anvita Awasthi also won a title in this age group, partnering triple winner Sophie MacKay to victory in the girls’ doubles. Anvita also reached the final of the girls’ singles. Glasgow’s James Huang was also very successful in this age group, reaching all three finals and claiming a title in the boys’ doubles with Aarav Sinha.
In the under 17 age group, Lothian’s Emma Joshua was a title winner in the girls’ doubles in partnership with Zoe Tait. Zoe also won the girls’ singles and reached the final of the mixed doubles. Arnav Saraswat (singles and boys’ doubles) and Max McCable (boys and mixed doubles) were also winners of two titles in this age group. Shona Brown had an excellent tournament, reaching all three finals, culminating in a victory in the mixed doubles with Max.
We were delighted to welcome back Martin Campbell (and his family!) to watch the finals and then present the prizes. We really appreciate the support that we receive from Martin Campbell Financial Management as well as the longstanding support from Yonex. The importance of our sponsors cannot be over emphasised in ensuring that we can continue to run these tournaments. We are also extremely appreciative that again this year, we have received generous support from the City of Edinburgh Council.
We are greatly indebted to members of the Lothian Badminton Group for all their hard work throughout the weekend and we also appreciate the help throughout from the staff at the Jack Kane Centre. We are also grateful for the help from the Badminton Scotland Court Officials group who provided umpires for the finals.
Final Results:
Lothian players shown in bold
Under 13:
Boys’ Singles – Yingfan Wang bt James Huang 21-12 / 21-9
Girls’ Singles – Sophie MacKay bt Anvita Awasthi 23-21 / 21-9
Boys’ Doubles – James Huang & Aarav Sinha bt Saathvik Karthik Saravanan & Sumanth Prakash 17-21 / 21-10 / 21-18
Girls’ Doubles – Anvita Awasthi & Sophie MacKay bt Bhanu Duvvuri & Ava Li 21-12 / 22-20
Mixed Doubles – Yingfan Wang & Sophie MacKay bt James Huang & Ava Li 14-21 / 21-12 / 21-10
Under 17:
Boys’ Singles – Arnav Saraswat bt Calum Tsang 21-12 / 21-14
Girls’ Singles –Zoe Tait bt Shona Brown 21-11 / 8-21 / 21-17
Boys’ Doubles –Max McCabe & Arnav Saraswat bt Nathan Luo & Calum Tsang 21-13 / 21-23 / 21-10
Girls’ Doubles – Emma Joshua & Zoe Tait bt Shona Brown & Lucy Degg 21-16 / 21-14
Mixed Doubles – Max McCabe & Shona Brown bt Calum Tsang & Zoe Tait 21-15 / 26-24
A complete set of results for the event can be found at Yonex MCFM East of Scotland U13 & U17 Junior Gold Championships
