Highland badminton players battle it out in annual restricted tournament
The senior season in the Highlands got under way with the annual restricted competition at the Black Isle Leisure Centre in Fortrose. Nineteen men and 11 women from across the Highland Badminton Group area battled it out over two days.
The men’s singles were played over three groups, followed by plays-off. Within the group stages there were some great games, four of which went to three sets.
Mark Mackay (Caithness) topped Group A, with Orkney’s Sam Groundwater second, while Mark Sproule and Lewis Lindsay (both Great Glen, Inverness) headed to the consolation event.
Group B saw Thomas Calder (Shetland) top the group and Great Glen’s Callum Craig was runner-up, with Orkney’s Ross Groundwater and Skye’s Niall Munro going through to the consolation.
In Group C it was Callum McWhirter (Elgin) who led the way, with Nairn’s Steven McGregor second, leaving William Sendall to go into the consolation.
Steven McGregor took on Callum Craig in the quarter-finals with Callum winning 21-17, 21-16.
The second quarter-final was between Sam Groundwater and Elgin’s Callum McWhirter, with Callum winning 21-13, 21-18.
The first of the semi-finals was between Mark Mackay and Callum Craig with Mark coming through 19-21, 21-12, 21-15.
The second semi-final was between Thomas Calder and Callum McWhirter and it was Thomas who came out on top 21-10, 21-13.
Mark won the final in three sets. He lost the first 21-10 but came back strongly to take the next two 21-14, 21-5.
The consolation final saw Mark Sproule take on Niall Munro, with Niall taking the win 21-11, 17-21, 21-16.
The ladies’ singles saw four players in a round-robin format. Jody Groundwater (Orkney) came first, with Chloe Mackenzie (Caithness) as runner-up and Gemma Foulis (Orkney) third.
In the men’s doubles the top two pairs from each of the two groups went through to the main draw, with the rest going into the consolation round.
In the main draw semi-finals, Mark Mackay (Caithness) and Callum McWhirter (Elgin) came up against Orkney duo Sam Groundwater and Erlend Ballantine, with Mark and Callum winning 21-18, 21-13.
Thomas Calder (Shetland) and Callum Craig (Great Glen) won 21-11, 21-14 against Elgin duo Adam Wesley and Neil Whyte.
Mark and Callum won 21-17, 21-18 in the final after some hard-fought rallies.
The consolation final was between Orkney’s Ross Groundwater and Gary Nicolson and Great Glen’s Nidhi Rajan and Mark Sproule, with Nidhi and Mark coming through 21-19, 8-21, 22-20.
The ladies’ doubles was played as a round-robin. Top seeds Gemma Foulis and Shannon Leslie (Orkney) had two three-setters out of their four matches to secure the victory.
One three-setter was against Orkney’s Jody Groundwater and Joanne Pottinger 18-21, 21-18, 21-17 which saw Jody and Joanne take second place. Gemma and Shannon’s other three-setter was against the newly formed Caithness pairing Lauren Gunn and Chloe Makenzie, with Gemma and Shannon prevailing 13-21, 21-15, 21-15.
This meant Lauren and Chloe came third after losing 21-14, 21-19 to Joanne and Jody.
The mixed doubles event followed the same format as the men’s doubles with the top two pairs from each of the three groups going through to the main draw and the rest going into the consolation round.
Caithness duo Mark Mackay and Lauren Gunn finished top of Group A, with Callum Craig and Gemma Foulis as runners-up. Group B saw Thomas Calder and Shannon Leslie top the table after winning a three-setter against runners-up Callum McWhirter and Chloe Mackenzie.
Group C had a withdrawal due to injury. Erlend Ballantine and Jody Groundwater topped the table after beating Neil Whyte and Great Glen’s Shona Ruesch.
Neil and Shona saw off Callum and Chloe 22-20, 21-19, placing them in the semi-final against Mark and Lauren with the latter duo winning 21-14, 21-14.
On the other side of the draw, Callum and Gemma defeated Erlend and Jody in a three-setter, 14-21, 26-24, 21-14, before losing out to Thomas and Shannon 21-14, 21-17.
The final was a thrilling game to watch, going the full distance, and it was the younger pairing of Thomas and Shannon who clinched the trophies – winning 21-15, 15-21, 21-19 against Mark and Lauren.
The consolation final saw Gary Nicolson and Joanne Pottinger take on Adam Wesley and Eleanor Bonser (Elgin) with Gary and Joanne winning 21-19, 21-18.
The event was sponsored by City Plumbing, Inverness.
Kerry Mackenzie of Highland Badminton Group said: “A massive thank-you to all the players who came along to compete, and all the volunteers that helped behind the scenes and on the day. Also, thanks to all the staff at the Fortrose leisure centre and once again to City Plumbing, Inverness, for their kind sponsorship.”
