Posted on 11th August 2021
Competitive badminton returns to Glasgow this weekend in the form of the U13/17 National Junior Championships.
Originally scheduled to be played in April at Ravenscraig, the event was one of many which had to be cancelled due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
It will now be played at the Sir Craig Reedie Centre in Glasgow on 14 & 15 August and to coincide with the first ranking event since March 2020, Badminton Scotland is un-freezing the Scottish ranking lists, with points awarded for all ranking events from now on.
The Under 17 event will feature seven of the eight players – Sophie Barrie, Katrina Chan, Iona Muir, Finlay Jack, Evan Kenny, Josh Taylor and Mathew Waring – who comprise the squad which will represent Scotland at the U17 European Championships in September, with all seven expected to feature in the medals on Sunday.
Jack and Waring are first and second seeds respectively for the boys’ singles and they also team up as top seeds for the boys’ doubles, where Kenny and Taylor are expected to be their main rivals for the title.
Katie Stewart is top seed in girls’ singles, doubles and mixed. She partners Sophie Barrie in girls’ doubles and Taylor in the mixed, with Katrina Chan and Ishbel McCallister and Jack and Barrie the second seeds respectively.
In the singles Stewart’s main opposition is expected to come from second seed Iona Muir.
In the U13 age group Qing Yang Xiao is favourite for all three events.
She is top seed in the girls’ singles ahead of Tushara Senthilrajaram and partners Ingrid Wang in the doubles with Senthilrajaram and Adeena Mohamed Kasim seeded second.
In the mixed she partners Arnav Saraswat with Alfie Martin and Senthilrajaram expected to meet them in the final.
Martin is top seed in the boys’ singles ahead of Saraswat and the two will pair up as top seeds in the doubles with Max McCabe and Finn McQuade seeded second.
This weekend’s event is one of four that Badminton Scotland has saved from the debris of season 2020/21 and it’s the first of three National events in the space of three weeks in August.
On 21 August the Disability National Championships (rearranged from January) will be played at Dalkeith High School then the following weekend Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth will host the Yonex Scottish National Championships, which was originally due to be held in February.
Badminton Scotland is also hosting the U15 4 Nations Quadrangular event in Glasgow from 1-3 October – that event has now been postponed twice, having originally been scheduled for May 2020, then May 2021.
Draws for the U13/17 Nationals are at https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament?id=EF0A1720-17B6-425A-A6CF-FDC273C74FDC and a full list of seeds is shown below.
NB: all holders refer to the 2019 Championships. Due to Covid-19, no event was held in 2020
U13 Boys’ Singles: Holder – Blair Tait (Edinburgh)
1 Alfie Martin (East Kilbride)
3/4. Finn McQuade (Glasgow); Lakshya Sharma (Glasgow)
U13 Girls’ Singles: Holder – Iona Muir (Renfrew)
U13 Boys’ Doubles: Holders – Lewis McDonald (Kirkliston)/Blair Tait (Edinburgh)
U13 Girls’ Doubles: Holders – Iona Muir (Renfrew)/Deepti Vijayakumar (Edinburgh)
U13 Mixed Doubles: Holders – Ewan Stewart (Glasgow)/Iona Muir (Renfrew)
U17 Boys’ Singles: Holder – Euan Campbell (Dunbar)
3/4. Lewis Coghill (Glasgow); Callan Short (Dundee)
5/8. Godfrey Antomarlin (Glasgow)/Theo Johnston (Edinburgh)/James Miller (Edinburgh)/Josh Taylor (Glasgow)
U17 Girls’ Singles: Holder – Lindsey Ireland (Aberdeen)
3/4. Sophie Barrie (Inverness); Katrina Chan (Glasgow)
U17 Boys’ Doubles: Holders – Euan Campbell (Dunbar)/Nathan MacPherson (Stonehaven)
3/4. Howard Cheuk (Edinburgh)/Theo Johnston (Edinburgh); Lewis Coghill (Glasgow)/Callan Short (Dundee)
U17 Girls’ Doubles: Holders – Jodie Black (Eyemouth)/Lindsey Ireland (Aberdeen)
U17 Mixed Doubles: Holders – Nathan MacPherson (Stonehaven)/Lindsey Ireland (Aberdeen)
3/4. Matthew Waring (Motherwell)/Iona Muir (Renfrew); Callan Short (Dundee)/Katrina Chan (Glasgow)
Please note that due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic Badminton Scotland is taking a cautious approach to the running of upcoming events and therefore significant restrictions will be in place for spectating at all three upcoming national events, including the U13/17 Nationals on 14 & 15 August.
There will be no general admission of spectators – instead, admittance will be limited to a restricted number of friends and/or family numbers per player, with details provided directly to the players regarding the number of spectators they will be permitted to bring.
**Please do not turn up on the day as there is no general admission.**
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