Dunn, Hall and MacPherson seeded at the Scottish Open
The draw for the Scottish Open Badminton Championships has taken place, as players from across the globe prepare to battle at the Emirates Arena from 21-24 November 2019.
Qualification draws have been announced alongside the seedings and main draws, after 306 athletes from 40 countries entered the third oldest tournament in world badminton.
Scotland is well represented across the event with two seeded Scottish pairs, as Adam Hall partners with Alex Dunn in the men’s doubles and Julie MacPherson in the mixed doubles.
Hall and Dunn are seeded third and will face Andreas Fleischer (Denmark) and Adam Gozzi (Sweden) in the first round with the potential to meet talented French youngsters Christo and Toma Junior Popov in the second.
Fellow Scots Christopher and Matthew Grimley begin proceedings with a stern test against Danish fourth seeds Mathias Bay-Smidt and Lasse Mølhede.
In the mixed doubles Hall and McPherson, who are seeded fourth, play French duo Eloi Adam and Margot Lambert.
Hall said: “We’ve definitely been given some tough draws this year, but with the quality of entry being so high, we were expecting some tough games.
“I think this is the first year we’ve been seeded here so that’s going to be a boost for us definitely.
“We’re looking forward to getting in front of the home crowd and showing that we deserve these seeded positions.”
MacPherson echoed Hall’s sentiments, saying: “There is a strong field this year at the Scottish Open so every match will be tough.
“But I’m looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena.”
England’s Toby Penty, who was the 2017 men’s singles champion, is seeded second and opens his campaign against Estonia’s Raul Must.
But he will have his work cut out for him if he wants to win his second Scottish Open title next week.
The top seed is India’s rising superstar Lakshya Sen who, along with winning World Junior bronze and Olympic Youth Games silver last year is in a stunning run of form, having won the men’s singles at his last three tournaments – the SaarLorLux Open, Dutch Open and Belgian International.
Germany’s Yvonne Li, who reached the semi-finals of the SaarLorLux Open, starts as favourite to win the women’s singles with Canadian Brittney Tam the second seed.
French pair Delphine Delrue and Lea Palermo, semi-finalists at the 2018 Scottish Open, are top seeds in the women’s doubles and will face English duo Annie Lado and Lizzie Tolman in the opening round.
The action gets underway on Thursday 21 November at 09.00hrs with qualifying rounds in all events, followed by the first round proper of the men’s singles and mixed doubles from 17.30hrs.
Play continues from 09.00hrs on Friday 22 November with action from all five events.
The quarter- and semi-finals will take place on Saturday 23rd from 10.00hrs before Sunday’s showpiece finals, starting at 12 noon.
The full draw can be viewed here
Tickets are on sale at badmintonscotland.org.uk/scottish-open/tickets
The Scottish Open Badminton Championships is being staged at the Emirates Arena by Badminton Scotland with support from Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life, and Yonex.
For more information contact Peter Dean, Head of Events, on 0141 445 1218 or email peter@badmintonscotland.org.uk