Dunnet farmer wins badminton gold at European Masters in Belgium
Mark Mackay has added gold to the stash of medals he has won on the international senior badminton circuit.
The Dunnet farmer returned last week from the European Masters in Belgium after he and Drifa Hardardottir were crowned the over 45s mixed doubles champions.
The 49-year-old also won bronze in the over 40 men's doubles at the week-long event in Heusden-Zolder.
They add to the hoard of silverware Mackay has collected at county, regional, national and international levels in open and senior competitions.
He played 13 singles and doubles games, culminating in victory in the mixed with 47-year-old Hardadottir, from Iceland.
The number three seeds had a first round bye before accounting for French and Spanish duos and then two English combinations.
That took them to the semi-final stage where they came up against leading German couple Thorsten and Michaela Hukriede.
Mackay said: "We knew this would be a tough one and there were a lot of long, hard rallies."
The Germans won the first 23-21 but their energy levels visibly dipped as Mackay and Hardadottir powered back to win the second 21-9 and the clincher 21-6.
Waiting to face the final were their third English opponents, Alex Marritt and Rebecca Pantaney.
Mackay said: "They are a good pair and we had been pleased to see they were on the opposite side of the draw to us.
"We were prepared for another marathon but we got off to a flyer. We won the first and were well up in the second when they started to come back at us but we managed to hold out and close it out."
Their 21-8, 21-12 success allowed them to take centre position on the podium at the awards ceremony held soon after their triumph.
Mackay had earlier partnered 41-year-old Mark Law, from Essex, to a level doubles' run which ended with semi-final defeat to Hukriede and Hendrik Westermeyer.
The two Marks, who were seeded 3/4, swept past French and Finnish combos before needing three games to prevail over a dogged Dutch duo in the quarter-finals.
They never seriously ruffled the German pairing, going down 12-21, 10-21 though they had the consolation of picking up a bronze medal.
Mackay notched up two stress-free wins over Belgian and German opponents in the over 45 singles before going out to a Dane in the last 16.
The long-time Caithness number one said: "Just before the competition, I picked up a slight heel/ Achilles injury which I was aware of and didn't want to aggravate.
"I was never going to win the singles and perhaps at the back of my mind, I was making sure I was in the best condition for the mixed, which I knew we had a decent chance in."
Mackay was one of nine Scottish players to win medals at the competition, which attracted more than 1500 entants.
His gold and bronze medals add to the European silver and bronze he respectively won at the 2022 competition in Slovenia and the bronze and the 2020 event in Spain.
Mackay has also won two world masters medals, a bronze in Poland in 2019 and a silver in Spain in 2021.
His next outing will be the Highland Restricted Championships on September 27/28 at Fortrose, when he will be defending the clean sweep of three titles he won last year.
His wife Shona, who has shared in many of his successes on the court over the years, is recovering well from a serious knee injury she sustained while representing her native Shetland in last year's International Island Games in Guernsey. She is hoping to make a return to competitive action shortly.
