Bumper entry for Scottish Open Badminton Championships

More than 400 players from 35 different countries will descend on Glasgow’s Emirates Arena as the third oldest tournament in world badminton returns. 

A strong Scottish contingent are set to shine on home soil with in-form Kirsty Gilmour leading an initial field of 77 entries in the women’s singles. 

Reigning champions Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall are entered to defend the title they won in 2019 and still hold after the tournament’s enforced hiatus in 2020 due to Coronavirus. 

Hall and Julie MacPherson, who reached the semi-finals two years ago, are all set to return in the mixed doubles draw.  

There is a typically strong European entry at the Emirates Arena from Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, England and Ireland. 

Fans can also expect to see challenges come from India, Malaysia and Canada in an International Challenge event that lives up to its billing. 

Among standout men’s singles players to have entered is Team GB’s Toby Penty and fellow Tokyo Olympians in Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon, Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen and Sweden’s Felix Burestedt. 

In the women’s singles, Gilmour will be hoping to continue the fine form that saw her reach the semi-finals of the Denmark Open at BWF World Tour Super 1000 level in October. She will be rivalled by the likes of Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt and USA’s Iris Wang. 

Badminton Scotland will also be running various activities throughout the event aimed at connecting grassroots participants with the elite level competition. 

They include the return of the popular Big Hit festival for schools, a Pan Disability Festival and adult match play. 

A full list of entries is available at the link below, with seedings to come.  

https://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/acceptancelist.aspx?id=f9705efd-0ab8-4457-a9d1-4a5de0859524 

Tickets are on sale at https://badmintonscotland.org.uk/tickets/