Gold for Pringle, Andrew and Apiliga in Ireland

Scotland’s next generation of stars enjoyed a successful campaign at the U19 Irish Open in Dublin over the weekend.

Adam Pringle claimed a brace of titles, winning men’s doubles with Joshua Apiliga and mixed with Rachel Andrew, while Lauren Middleton and Sarah Sidebottom reached the final of the women’s doubles to claim a silver medal.

After a first round bye Apiliga and Pringle overcame Swedish pair Filip Karlborg and Tom Soderstrom before beating teammates Michael McGuire and Danny Robson to reach the semi-finals, justifying their fourth seed status.

But the Scots were not content with that and went on to score hard-fought three-game wins over two Dutch pairs – second seeds Wessel Van Der Aar and Ties Van Der Lecq in the semis and third seeds Gijs Duijs and Brian Wassink in the final – to take the title.

Seeded fifth in the mixed, Pringle and Andrew overcame French, English, Italian and Swedish opposition to reach the final without dropping a game.

There Pringle once again faced Van Der Lecq and his partner Milou Lugters, beating the second seeds 21-19 21-17 to claim his second title of the day and Andrew’s first.

Apiliga and Sidebottom justified their seventh seed status by reaching the quarter-finals, beating teammates Jack Riddell and Rachel Sugden along the way, while Callum Smith and Erin Waddell and Josh McKay and Maria Leith all reached the last-sixteen.

Seeded second in the women’s doubles Middleton and Sidebottom beat pairs from Italy, Sweden and England to set up a showdown against Dutch top seeds Lugters and Alyssa Tirtosentono in the final.

But despite winning the opening game, the first time the Dutch pair had dropped a game in the tournament, the Scots couldn’t maintain their lead and Lugters and Tirtosentono hit back to take the title 20-22 21-14 21-15.

In the singles Joshua Apiliga and Lloyd Holland both narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals.

Holland was beaten 21-18 19-21 21-13 in the quarter-finals by Italy’s third seed Giovanni Totti but he scored three excellent wins to get there, including a hard-fought 21-16 19-21 21-16 victory over Robson before toppling Swedish fifth seed Marcus Boman 21-18 21-17.

Apiliga beat Enrico Baroni, the fourth seed from Italy, 11-21 21-18 21-16 to reach the quarters where his campaign was brought to a halt by Dane Axel Henrik Parkhoi with a 21-17 11-21 21-13 score line.

Pringle reached the quarter-finals courtesy of a 21-15 21-10 win over compatriot Jack Riddell but there his challenge ended as top seed Nhat Nguyen of Ireland won 21-8 21-9 on his way to winning the title.

Rachels Cameron and Sugden both reached the last-sixteen of the women’s singles where they were beaten by Rachel Woods (Ireland) and Laura Solis (Spain) respectively.

Full results at www.tournamentsoftware.com