Caithness trio compete in Glasgow junior championships
Three players from Caithness Junior Badminton Club took part in the Glasgow and North Strathclyde Badminton Group’s Glasgow Yonex Junior Championships U13/U17 2024 “A” grade tournament.
Sophie Mackay, Chloe Mackenzie (both Dunnet) and Ava Cook (Thurso) competed in the two-day event in the Sir Craig Reedie Badminton Centre at the weekend.
In the under-13s Sophie had a great start in the first round of girls’ singles, winning 21-4, 21-2 against Reeya Kukreja. This took her to the quarter-finals where she played Giselle Lee, taking the first set 21-17 before being edged out in the second and third sets 21-19 apiece.
In the girls’ doubles Sophie played with Josie Columbine from the Black Isle and they came third in the round-robin of five pairs, winning two of their four matches – 21-12, 21-10 and 21-9, 21-7.
The mixed doubles saw Sophie pair up with Aayush Nagdeve from Aberdeen. The young new pairing played well as they found their feet.
Chloe and Ava took part in the under-17s.
In her first-round match against Layla Shaw, Chloe came out on top 21-5, 21-9 to earn a quarter-final tie with Valentina Peterson. Chloe was ahead 16-11 when Valentina had a nasty fall.
Chloe then met Jaagruti Mannem in the semi-finals. There were some powerful rallies with great points won by both girls before Jaagruti took the win 21-14, 21-17 after 34 minutes of play.
Jaagruti, the number two seed in U17 girls’ singles, went on to win the final.
Ava lost her first-round game against Jaagruti Mannem 21-5, 21-3, placing her in the consolation quarter-finals against Chrisabella Ooi with Ava winning 15-4, 15-6. She then faced Elona Kennedy in the consolation semi-finals, with Elona taking the victory by 15-13, 15-11.
Chloe and Ava joined forces in the girls’ doubles, playing two group games but not making it through to the next round.
In the mixed doubles Ava played with Ross Loudon as a scratch pairing. They had two tough group games against established pairs.
Chloe paired up with usual mixed partner Callum McWhirter (Elgin). They topped their group after winning their first game 21-6, 21-6 and their second game against the number three seeds Max McCabe and Shreya Vargheese 21-16, 18-21, 21-13.
This placed them in the quarter-finals where they came up against David Campbell and Lucy Degg, with Chloe and Callum winning 21-11, 21-8.
Their semi-final opponents were Luke Parkinson and Ingrid Wang, the number two seeds. After a difficult first set, Chloe and Callum had much better performance in the second set but they were beaten 21-9, 21-16.
