Scottish Cup: West Qualifier

By Euan Murray (RDO West)

Yesterday, the stage was set for what would become a intense and fast paced day of clubs competing in the Scottish Cup West Qualifier with the opportunity to progress to the Quarter Finals with 3 places up for grabs.

The venue of choice was the Sir Craig Reedie Badminton Centre (SCRBC) which was swept and prepped for players arriving. As a close knit community that is Scottish badminton, there was a sense of camaraderie however there was also strong feeling that clubs were clearly here to win!

There were 7 teams competing: Allander Badminton Club, County Badminton Club (BC) 1, County BC Shuttlers, Drongan, Glasgow Badminton Club, Strathaven Badminton Club and Uddingston Badminton Club with a good split of representation across Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Glasgow and Lanarkshire.

The two pools were as follows:

Pool A

  • County BC 1
  • Glasgow BC
  • Uddingston BC

Pool B

  • Allander BC
  • County Shuttlers BC
  • Drongan BC
  • Strathaven BC

The opening round of fixtures saw County BC beating Uddingston BC (0-7), despite putting in a solid team effort. In Group B, Drongan BC manage overcome Strathaven BC (6-1) with Ella Haime registering a win in the Women’s Singles. For the 3rd match in this round, it was a close encounter between County Shuttlers BC edging the win over Allander BC (4-3) with Josh Taylor and Rachel Sugden getting Allander BC off to 2-0 lead in the singles’ events. However it was County Shuttlers who secured the win in the Mixed Doubles 2 with Miles Milner & Emma Donald winning 21-11 against Allander B.C’s Craig Tomlinson & Anna Sugden.

The round 2 set of fixtures witnessed Glasgow Badminton Club entering the fold. They took on Uddingston BC in their open game which had some very tight matches with a 24-22 and 23-21 scores in the Men’s Singles and Women’s Doubles.  Drongan’s Angus Meldrum & Allander’s Josh Taylor provided spectators with an entertaining battle in the Men’s Singles opener with Meldrum taking the set 21-15 – with some fantastic rallies throughout! In the Men’s Doubles events, Drongan’s experienced pairs were too strong for Allander however the Sugden sisters kept their club in the tie.  Then it was Allander’s Josh Taylor & Katie Stewart who made it 3-3 with a close 22-20 win over Drongan’s Callum MacMillan & Eva Tremble. Then it came down to the Mixed Doubles 2 as the decider with Drongan’s Julie Dunlop & Alan Martin taking the win.

It was all to play for heading into Round 3. It was County BC 1 versus Glasgow BC this time, with County putting in another strong performance winning 7-0 however with some close scores particularly in the Men’s Doubles 1 (17-21) and Mixed Doubles 1 (18-21) with Robert Dunn and Athimet Chetteeraphet facing each other on both occasions. Drongan and County Shuttlers faced off in which Drongan won 5-2.  It was a strong start out the blocks in this match for Drongan who took a 4-0 lead.  Unfortunately, Allander BC again got pipped 4-3 when they came up against Strathaven BC with the Men’s Doubles ties arguably clinching the victory for Strathaven B.C, despite a valiant effort from Allander’s players.

This setup the 3rd place playoff which was between 2nd place teams in both pools – Uddingston BC (Pool A) and County BC Shuttlers (Pool B).  It was County Shuttlers Hooper & Donald in the Singles’ events which got their team 2-0 up, although Uddingston’s Men’s Doubles pairs responded bringing the tie to 2-2 which would set up a thrilling end to this match.  County took the Women’ Doubles however Uddingston BC kept the tie alive with a fast and action packed mixed doubles match where Hyslop & Hodge nicked the win 21-16 over Ken The & Amy Craig.  So, it all came down to the final match which proved to round off the day with County Shuttlers BC Milner & Donald sending their club into the Quarter Finals.

Across the ten matches, 50% of the matches finished with 4-3 scores which indicates the level of play and competitiveness which was demonstrated across the course of the day.

Feedback from players:

Marie Christie, Team Captain, Allander BC – ‘‘As a club we of course came here to compete however we were keen to give all our players a chance to play and enjoy the experience of playing in a team event’’ 

Rachel Sugden, Allander BC and Scottish Senior National Squad athlete – ‘‘Well run, nice to see new faces & players as well it was good to see everyone enjoying themselves throughout the course of day’’

Emma Sherry, competitor from Uddingston BC – ‘‘Good time playing some challenging and good competitive games’’

Ryan Jones, team captain from G.B.C – ‘‘Good to opportunity to meet players from same area but different clubs. The full team had fun – good games and atmosphere’’

Ken Teh, competitor from County Shuttlers BC – ‘’Good standard competition, familiar faces and good banter’’

Pool finishing positions:

Pool A

  • 1st – County BC 1 (Q)
  • 2nd – Uddingston BC
  • 3rd – Glasgow BC

Pool B

  • 1st – Drongan BC (Q)
  • 2nd – County Shuttlers BC (Q)
  • 3rd – Strathaven BC
  • 4th – Allander BC

Badminton Scotland would like to thank all the clubs and players entering and supporting the event, particularly the Team Captains and a special thanks to Keegan Friel who was instrumental in the planning, organisation and on the day of the event with setting up Tournament Software and supporting with any issues.

See all results from the West Qualifier on Tournament Software

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