Reigning champions on course for semi-final clash
The reigning under 13 and under 17 girls’ singles champions were put on course for a potential semi-final showdown when the draws for the Under 13/17 National Junior Badminton Championships were made today.
Lindsey Ireland, the only defending champion in the tournament, is top seed in the under 17 girls’ singles and joint 3/4 seed Brooke Stalker, who last year won a treble of singles, doubles and mixed in the under 13 age group, has been drawn in the same half.
Ireland opens her campaign against Katie Stewart when the championships get underway at Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility on Saturday while Stalker faces Sophie Barrie in the first round.
In the bottom half of the draw second seed Jodie Black starts against Ciara Bailey and is likely to have to overcome the other joint 3/4 seed Abbie Brooks in the semis if she wants to make Sunday’s showpiece final.
Black and Ireland team up in the girls’ doubles as top seeds and start against Jess Rae and Lois Turnbull while second seeds Stalker and Keryn Swan open against Rosie Murray and Charlie Ann Williamson.
In the boys’ singles top seed Euan Campbell has a first round bye before facing the winner of the match between namesakes Ian and Neil Campbell while second seed Lewis Hart will face either Josh Taylor or Pratyush Singh in his opening tie.
Joint 3/4 seeds Angus Meldrum and Callum Stokes play Nathan Findlater and Joseph Munt respectively.
Both seeded pairs enjoy first round byes in the first round of the boys’ doubles. Top seeds Hart and Isaac Weir await the winners of the match between Thomas Lygate and Scott MacKenzie and Joseph Munt and Finlay Owen while Euan Campbell and Nathan MacPherson will face either Hamish McCallister and Leo McMillan or Grant Lewis and Finlay Sheriff.
In the mixed doubles top seeds Hart and Black have a first round bye but Finlay Sheriff and Swan face Meldrum and Katrina Chan in what could be a difficult first round tie for the second seeds.
In the Under 13 events all four boys’ singles seeds start with opening round byes.
Top seed Blair Tait will face either Jacob Glass or Callum Jack in round 2 while Tushar Senthilrajaram awaits the winner of the tie between Iain McCrae and Finn Callister.
Jack is top seed in the boys’ doubles with Ewan Stewart and they face a difficult opener against Tait and Lewis McDonald, while second seeds Senthilrajaram and Lingyun Xiao have a first round bye.
Iona Muir, who is top seed in all three events, has a first round bye in the girls’ singles, as does second seed Deepti Vijayakumar.
The pair team up as top seeds in the girls’ doubles with Abigail Barrie and Lanna Campbell seeded second – again both seeds await the winners of first round ties.
In the mixed doubles both seeded pairs have difficult opening matches. Stewart and Muir start against Senthilrajaram and Vijayakumar while Alfie Martin and Lanna Campbell face Barrie and Lingyun Xiao.
The Under 13/17 National Junior Badminton Championships is being staged at Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell on 6 & 7 April 2019.
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