European Silver for Gilmour, Dunn and Hall

Scotland claimed two superb silver medals at the 2022 European Championships with Kirsty Gilmour and Alex Dunn and Adam Hall all finishing on the podium in Madrid.

Despite not taking the top step of the podium Dunn and Hall can console themselves with an outstanding silver medal, becoming the first Scottish doubles pair to compete in a European final in the process.

For Gilmour it was a fourth European medal and third silver, a tell-tale sign of the singles star’s consistency at the very top end of the sport.

Just as in 2016 and 2017, she came up against Carolina Marin of Spain and the result was the same as she went down in two games.

Marin, making a hotly-anticipated return to the sport after injury, claimed a six title with a 21-10 21-12 victory.

The 28-year-old Scot upgraded the bronze she won last year in Kiev, reaching the final thanks to an impressive semi-final victory over second seed Mia Blichfeldt, defeating the Dane 21-19 19-21 21-10.

On their own route to the final, the dynamic duo of Dunn and Hall recorded back-to-back victories over French opponents.

They came from behind to beat Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 10-21 21-12 21-18 before a landmark win over rising starts Christo and Toma Junior Popov in two games.

They came unstuck against Lamsfuss and Seidel, who won silver last time out, as the Germans ran out 21-17 21-16 winners.

Dunn and Hall won European junior bronze together all the way back in 2015 and their partnership continues to go from strength to strength.

Also in action in the men’s doubles were brothers Christopher and Matthew Grimley who reached the round of 16 before losing to Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede in two games.

The 22-year-olds had earlier beaten Jose Molares and Jaume Perez of Spain in 26 minutes to advance 21-14 21-8.

Julie MacPherson was battling on two fronts out in Madrid, losing in the first round of the women’s doubles with Ciara Torrance but charging into the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles.

Fifth seeds Torrance and MacPherson lost 21-10, 21-15 to Margot Lambert and Anne Tran of France while MacPherson and Hall needed only a combined 40 minutes on court to reach the quarter-finals.

The mixed doubles pairing defeated Petros Tentas and Eleni Moutevelidou of Greece 21-6 21-2 before beating Serbia’s Mihajlo Tomic and Adjela Vitman 21-10 21-14.

Hall and MacPherson bowed out against the eventual champions Lamsfuss and Isabel Lohau of Germany 25-23 21-17 with the German duo going on to defeat Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue for the title in a marathon match lasting over an hour.

Elsewhere in the mixed doubles, Christopher Grimley and Eleanor O’Donnell were defeated in the round of 32, losing 21-9 21-13 to Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek of the Netherlands.

In the men’s singles, Callum Smith tasted opening round defeat to Italy’s Fabio Caponio losing 21-15 21-3 to a player ranked 417 places above him.