U13/17 Lanarkshire Junior Open: Round Up
By Lanarkshire Badminton
The 2023 Lanarkshire U13/17 Junior Open, hosted by Lanarkshire Badminton Group took place over the weekend at John Wright Sports Centre in East Kilbride. This year’s event included a record entry of 81 participants across 10 events making it a fantastic spectacle for everyone involved.
It was always going be a tight schedule with the Singles and Level Doubles all taking place on the Saturday with lots of three setters.
In the U17 Boy’s Singles, Ewan Stewart (3/4 seed) and Arnav Saraswat (5/8 seed) would met in the final after a series impressive wins. It was very close match however Stewart managed to edge it with a 23-21, 21-18 win.
In U17 Girl’s Singles, number 1 seed Shannon Leslie & Tushara Senthilrajaram both stayed on track progressing through to the Final where they would face each other. It was a three setter with Senthilrajaram winning 23-25, 21-18, 21-17.
A special mention and huge well done to Tushara who came away with 3 trophies on the day (winner of the singles and runner up in the mixed and doubles).
Similarly, in the U13’s Boys & Girls Singles there were many close encounters. Dylan Jia and Calum Tsang faced off in the final with Jia pipping Tsang 20-22, 21-18, 21-12. In the Girl’s event, it was an all Lanarkshire final with Arisha Manir & Elona Kennedy meeting once again, with Kennedy on this occasion with the win 21-11, 17-21, 21-18. However Manir would then go on and take a double set of titles in the Girl’s Doubles & Mixed Doubles events with partners Emily Jobson & Dylan Jia – adding the mixed event to Jia’s collection too.
In the U13 Boy’s Doubles it was Melrick Dsouza & Dylan Jia and Vedant Shukla & Calum Tsang competing for the title with Dsouza & Jia winning 21-17, 21-18. Special mention to both Jia winning all three U13 titles and Tsang the runner up in all 3 finals in some really close matches!
The U17 Doubles events also had some close matches. In the Mixed Doubles, the title was taken by Lingun Xiao & Qing Yang Xiao convincingly 21-9, 21-13. Lingun Xiao partnered up with fellow EBA teammate Blair Tait to win the Boy’s Doubles 21-9, 21-19. In the Girl’s Doubles, Orkney duo Shannon Leslie & Gemma Foulis overcame opponents in the final 21-12, 21-12.
U17 photographs
U13 Photographs
Frank Turnbull, Tournament Convenor of Lanarkshire Badminton Group reflected on on the weekend:
‘‘This is our first ever U13/17 Grade A national event, despite some IT problem on Sunday the players all performed well and thoroughly enjoyed their badminton. Thank you to everyone that supported us over the weekend – it was greatly appreciated.’’
Big thanks goes to our committee and volunteer team who ensured that event ran as smoothly and professionally as possible. This includes Frank, Hugh, Nicky, Sam, Mary & Marcia – particularly Hugh who saved the day with his IT skills. Everyone certainly all pulled together and contributed to what was an excellent weekend of badminton!