Sugden wins Alpes International plus a round-up of Scotland’s other weekend achievements
Rachel Sugden scored the pick of the results for Scotland in a good weekend of international competition.
The 17-year-old from Alexandria won the women’s doubles and reached the final of the mixed at the Alpes International U19 in Voiron, France.
Sugden was seeded fourth in the women’s doubles alongside England’s Annie Lado and the Anglo-Scottish duo got off to a strong start, beating Luxembourg’s Shana Pauquet and Zoe Sinico 21-7 21-7 before a 21-12 21-16 win over Italians Katharina Fink and Judith Mair put them through to a semi-final clash against Switzerland’s Dounia Pelupessy and Milena Schnider.
Despite losing the first game to the top seeds, the British pair battled back to record an outstanding 21-23 26-24 21-14 win to reach the final, where they beat second seeds Martina Corsini and Chiara Passeri, another Italian pair, 21-17 21-18 to take the title.
Sugden almost made it a brace of titles in the mixed doubles with another English player, William Jones. A straightforward 21-15 21-11 win over French duo Alfred Leroy and Chloe Delattre was followed by a harder-fought 21-14 16-21 22-20 defeat of Poland’s Mikolaj Wrzalik and Weronika Gorniak.
Wins over sixth seeds Yann Orteu and Julie Franconville and fifth seeds Alvaro Leal and Laura Solis put them through to the final, but Sugden’s women’s doubles partner Lado and Brandon Zhi Hao Yap took the gold medal, winning 21-17 19-21 21-12.
The pick of the results for the home players at the Glasgow International Youth Championships came from Renfrew’s Iona Muir.
She won both her group games to qualify for the knock-out stage before confounding her joint 5/8 seeding by beating another 5/8 seed Sofie Chong 21-11 21-8, then joint 3/4 seed Michelle Shochan 21-10 21-13.
That put Muir into the semi-finals against top seed Lucy Brierley. The English player won the first set but Muir battled back, winning 17-21 21-18 21-13 to reach the final and a clash with Ireland’s second seed Siofra Flynn.
Flynn dominated the opening set, winning it 21-12 but the crowd in the National Badminton Academy inspired Muir to fight-back. The Scot won the second set 21-10 but Flynn was ultimately too strong, winning the decider 21-16 to claim the title.
Muir also justified her joint 3/4 seeding in the mixed doubles with Poland’s Mikolaj Morawski, reaching the semi-finals before second seeds David Ng and Tranthini Kumaravel ended their campaign.
In the under 15 age group, Brooke Stalker reached the semi-finals of the girls’ singles and partnered Katrina Chan to the same stage of the girls’ doubles while Josh Taylor and Katie Stewart also reached the semi-finals of the mixed doubles.
Meanwhile, in senior international competition Christopher and Matthew Grimley reached the semi-finals of the men’s doubles at the Slovenia International Championships in Medvode.
The fourth seeds justified their ranking, beating England’s Zach Russ and Steven Stallwood 21-13 21-14 after an opening round bye, before a walkover against Poland’s Milosz Bochat and Pawel Smilowski sent them through to the last four.
But Japanese pair Shohei Hoshino and Yujiro Nishikawa, who had knocked out the top seeds in the quarter-finals, ended the Scots campaign with a 19-21 21-16 21-14 win on their way to taking the gold medal.
At the German International in Bonn, Toni Woods and Ireland’s David Walsh scored a good first round win, beating Maxime Briot and Jule Petrikowski 22-20 13-21 21-19 before defeat by French seventh seeds Louis Ducrot and Sarah Lamoulie ended their campaign.
Full results from all competitions can be found below
Alpes International
Glasgow International Youth Team Event
Glasgow International Youth Individual Events
Slovenia International
German International