Gilmour through in Malaysia but Scottish Para-shuttlers struggle in Dubai

Kirsty Gilmour got off to the best possible start today at the Malaysia Open, being held in Kuala Lumpur from 2-7 April.

Scotland’s number 1 beat Russia’s Evgeniya Kosetskaya 22-20 21-16 in the first round to set up a second round encounter against China’s He Bingjiao, the player she famously beat on her way to the quarter-finals of the Glasgow 2017 World Championships.

Indeed Gilmour has a 2-0 head to head record against the Chinese player having also defeated her in 2016 at the Syed Modi International, but she will be under no illusions about the challenge posed by the current World no. 7.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s players struggled in the 2nd Dubai Para-Badminton International.

Bobby Laing and Colin Leslie both lost close encounters yesterday. Laing was beaten 21-17 21-16 by Bunthan Yaemmali of Thailand in the SS6 men’s singles while Leslie lost out 15-21 21-18 21-19 to India’s Dillaswar Rao Gadela in the SL3 men’s singles.

Laing lost out today to Hong Kong’s 3/4 seed Wong Chun Yim in the singles and he and Hector Tunque were beaten 21-13 21-11 by men’s doubles second seeds Isaak Dalglish of England and Frenchman Fabien Morat.

In the SL3-SL4 men’s doubles Leslie and Canadian partner Pascal Lapointe were beaten by top seeds Dwiyoko Dwiyoko and Fredy Setiawan today.

Click here for results from Malaysia and here for Dubai

Opportunity

The National Disability Badminton Squad is looking for sparrers to help our Paralympic hopefuls in their training. Men and women of all ages who play at club or county level would be welcome. If interested, contact Sarah Bok on sarahbokpt@hotmail.co.uk