A strong result for team Scotland at Ireland Under 19 Championships
Scotland’s juniors had an incredibly successful time at the Under 19 Junior Championships in Ireland at the beginning of the month, most notably in the doubles divisions. Ishbel McCallister and Brooke Stalker won gold in the women’s doubles, with Eva Tremble and Vibra Raman playing third. Stalker also won gold alongside doubles partner Lewis Coghill in the mixed doubles, a new partnership and something Head Coach Ingo Kindervater was pleased to see develop.
“It’s a relatively fresh partnership so it was good to have some early performance indication that should give confidence to them and to us.”
Speaking to Coghill about his performance he felt strong despite being in a tough draw. “In these European tournaments you don’t ever get a straightforward game so you need to be focused and prepared every time you step on court and I felt I did that well.”
“Getting the gold was a good feeling. Being training hard and it’s satisfying to see the results of it, we knew we could do well if we played the right game. Overall it was just a great start to the season.”
On the other end; McCallister and Stalker have been playing together for a long time with the partnership showing increasing promise. With McCallister having been out on injury earlier in the year they had been limited on how much they had been practicing and playing so the gold in Dublin was a great sign for future events, with Kindervater recognising the tough time the pair have had to get to this point.
“It was not easy for Ishbel to go through something like that so early on in her career but it was also difficult for Brooke to almost be without a partner for a long time so we’re just happy they can focus on more positive things going forward.”
Speaking on her own performance McCallister felt overall she performed at a high level. “There were some times on the route to the final where I felt I could’ve been better but I managed to get through those points and bring my best level to the final.”
“I was thrilled to get the gold especially since I got the gold last year so I was chuffed to retain the title!”
Elsewhere previous All England Junior Bronze Medallist Matthew Waring reached the quarter finals in the men’s singles taking the French fourth seed Nathan Nguyen to three sets.
Despite Waring not medalling this time Head Coach was still pleased with the result “He played another good tournament. I watched the quarter final and it was good high level badminton, the French player is a known player in Europe so it’s a good player to compare to in terms of high level Badminton.”
“Matthew was on top of that match, winning the first game and up 7-3 in the second, and then the French player found some adjustments and answers and this is where some of the other international players are a bit more experienced but that’s all okay development wise.”
Katrina Chan and Vibha Raman also performed well in the women’s singles with Chan reaching the second round and Raman the quarter finals. Lewis Smith and Blair Tait also reached the second round in the men’s doubles.
All focus for the Juniors now turns to the European Championships in Ibiza in November.
To read about Brooke Stalker’s double gold click below