Babolat Dunfermline Badminton Championships
Held in the Carnegie Centre on 7th, 8th & 9th January the tournament attracted an entry of over 70 players travelling from as far afield as the Borders, to the North of Scotland including Orkney.
A very strict Covid protocol was in place preventing the presence of spectators but many of the matches were live streamed. Surprisingly there were very few withdrawals due to the pandemic.
The major prizes were shared out with different players winning in each event.
In the MS Callum Smith displayed his quality, moving smoothly through the rounds with comfortable straight sets wins, before defeating Calvin Chan in the Semi Final. In the lower half of the draw Callum Crangle upset No2 seed Angus Meldrum, but it was Michael McGuire who emerged as the second finalist after defeating local favourite Calum Flockhart in an exciting 3 set Semi Final. In the final, Callum Smith retained his title with a straight sets win, holding off a determined challenge from Michael McGuire.
The top two seeds met in the WS Final, after Abbie Brooks and Toni Woods both had comfortable Semi Final wins over Lindsey Ireland and Sophie Ford respectively. Abbie proved too strong for Toni in the Final, to claim her first Senior Grade A title at age of 17.
There was also a very youthful look to the WD Final where top seeds Jodie Harris/Brooke Stalker matched up against 2nd seeds Lindsey Ireland/Iona Muir. It was Lindsey & Iona who prevailed after 2 closely fought sets, giving Iona her 1st Senior Grade A title before reaching her 15th birthday.
The MD was perhaps the hardest fought event of the weekend. Kenneth Cheung/Glen Lewington upset the No1 seeds Mark Leith/Alastair Gordon in their 1st round tie, then progressed through to the Final after overcoming Michael McGuire/Anthony McGuire in an exciting Semi Final, by 21-19 in the 3rd set. The second Semi Final saw Thomas Bethell/Callum Crangle edge out No2 seeds Robert Dunn/Steven Stewart in another 3 set thriller.
The Final did not disappoint either, another ding dong 3 setter, before Thomas Bethell/Callum Crangle took the title.
The Championships opened with Mixed Doubles on Friday. In the match of the evening Mark Mackay/Shona Mackay edged their Semi Final against top seeded Abbie Brooks/Angus Meldrum in 3 sets. In the bottom half of draw, Robert Dunn/Kirsten Berry had a more comfortable Semi Final win over Kenneth Cheung/Jodie Harris.
Unfortunately, Mark Mackay sustained an injury midway through 1st set of the Final forcing him to retire, giving victory to Robert Dunn/Kirsten Berry who were leading 17-11 at the time.
Many thanks go to our event sponsors Babolat for their continued support of these Dunfermline Championships.
Also thanks to the staff of Carnegie Leisure Centre for their assistance and all the BSCO Umpires and Line Judges who officiated the Sunday Semi Finals & Finals.
And a special mention for Stuart Edmond of DBA committee, who persisted through some initial technology issues, to provide livestreaming of many matches – videos can still be viewed on Dunfermline Badminton Association facebook page