Mackays make it seven in a row at Highland Open badminton championships
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Dynamic badminton duo Mark and Shona Mackay extended their tenure of the mixed doubles silverware at the Highland Open at the weekend.
The Caithness couple made it seven in a row when they defeated Strathclyde University pair Kenneth Cheung and Emma Donald in Saturday's final at Inverness Leisure.
The Mackays justified top seeding as they came through 21-13, 21-14 against the number two seeds.
They had a tougher test in their semi when they recovered from a set down to prevail 19-21, 21-14, 21-15 against Orkney's Andrew Reid and Shannon Leslie.
Martyn Cook and Lauren Gunn were beaten in the quarter-final by the number three seeds, central belt-based Finlay Sheriff and Sophie Ford.
Other Caithness pairs Sean Campbell and Chloe Mackenzie and Matthew Robertson and Ashley McLean were knocked out in the second round, as were John Durrand and Inverness teenager Sophie Barrie.
Both Mark and Shona found one too good for them in their respective singles competitions at the Black Isle Leisure Centre in Fortrose on Sunday.
A gritty comeback saw Mark, seeded two, see off Shetlander Dean Guthrie 18-21, 21-18, 21-9 in his second-round match. He went on to defeat Daniel Innes in straight sets before being taken the distance in his semi against another Edinburgh-based opponent, Salim Ben Boudnar.
In the final, he faced new Heriot-Watt University graduate Ganesh Ram Balaji, who is ranked third in Scotland.
The top seed was made to work hard for his 21-13, 21-18 victory.
Mark said: "He is a very good player and deserved to win, though I have to remember he's something like 23 years younger than me."
Wick's Iain Nicolson was unlucky to be knocked out of the main competition, losing 21-23, 19-21 to Shetland's Luca Russell.
Nicolson went on to reach the semi-final of the plate competition.
Shona Mackay progressed to the final of the women's singles without losing a set.
There, she came up against top seed Ford, a member of the Scottish development squad.
The Caithness player led in both sets but ended up going down 15-21, 17-21.
Mackenzie lost to Donald in the second round of the main competition before reaching the semi-final of the plate where she succumbed in three sets to Orkney's Emma Work.
Earlier, Mark Mackay and Cook had bowed out at the last-four stage of the men's doubles to the top seeds and eventual winners, Cheung and Sheriff.
Durrand and Orcadian David Delday made it through to the third round, while Nicolson and Robertson were knocked out in the second round, as was Campbell and his Edinburgh partner Adarsh Sathiyaseelan.
Shona Mackay and Gunn were eliminated at the quarter-finals of the women's doubles by eventual runners-up Donald and Ford.
The two-day competition was staged by Highland Badminton Group.
Forty-eight-year-old Mark, who farms at Scarfskerry, said: "Six weeks of calving was perhaps not the best of preparations and I was certainly feeling pretty sore after the weekend.
"It was an excellent competition and it was great to see so many coming up from the central belt to take part."
The curtain on the competitive season for just about all players in the far north will come down with the R Clouston Ltd Orkney championship in Kirkwall's Pickaquoy Centre on May 13/14.
But Shona Mackay is continuing her preparations for the number one date on her diary – the NatWest Island Games in Guernsey on July 8-14 when the 36-year-old will be representing her native Shetland.
