Scots going strong in World Junior boys’ doubles
Apiliga and Pringle will face boys’ doubles ninth seeds Tanadon Punpanich and Sirawit Sothon of Thailand this afternoon for a place in the fourth round, while McGuire and Smith take on Danish 15th seeds Rasmus Espersen and Marcus Rindshoj.
Both pairs have scored some good wins already with Apiliga and Pringle beating Swiss pair Yann Orteu and Minh Quang Pham 21-12 21-15 in round 2 after having a first round bye.
McGuire and Smith opened with a comfortable 21-14 21-9 win over Icelandic pair Andri Broddason and Brynjar Mar Ellertsson in the first round before showing impressive determination to win a three set tussle 21-19 18-21 21-19 over Winston Tsai and Jacob Zhang of America.
Apiliga and Smith also both recorded excellent wins in the boys’ singles. Apiliga turned around a first set loss to beat New Zealand’s Joshua Feng 19-21 21-9 21-7 while Smith beat Australian Jack Yu 21-15 10-21 24-22.
Both players lost out to strong opposition in the next round, with Smith facing an especially difficult task against the second seed Brian Yang of Canada, while McGuire lost his opening match against Chinese Taipei’s Su Li Yang 21-13 21-4.
Rachel Sugden beat Annija Rulle-Titava 21-8 21-6 in her opening girls’ singles match but couldn’t follow up with another win in round 2.
Despite putting in a creditable performance against the 11th seed Dai Wang of China she succumbed 21-15 21-18 while Scotland’s other singles contender, Rachel Cameron, lost out to Malaysia’s Arena Samin in round 1.
In the girls’ and mixed doubles some good performances were not rewarded with wins, with the Scottish pairs exiting in the first rounds.
The full Scotland team, which is being supported by Uplift Forklifts Ltd, is:
Rachel Andrew, 18, Edinburgh
Alice Campbell, 17, Glasgow
Rachel Cameron, 18, Musselburgh
Rachel Sugden, 17, Alexandria
Joshua Apiliga, 18, Glasgow
Michael McGuire, 17, Bothwell
Adam Pringle, 18, Giffnock
Callum Smith, 17, Duns
Uplift Forklifts Ltd is based in the Scottish Borders. The company sells, repairs and hires forklifts and is a franchise dealer for Doosan forklifts.
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