Gregor, Andy and Colin: Team Scotland at the 4 Nations Para
It’s been an eventful three days in Glasgow, as three Scots have taken to the courts to represent their home soil in the Para Badminton Championships.
Gregor Anderson
18-year-old Gregor Craig Anderson was the first up competing in WH 2, making his international debut as a wildcard on home soil. Anderson has competed in six matches including singles and doubles. In his first match against Jaime Aranguiz of Chile, Anderson lost his first round 21-4 and his second 21-2. Despite his defeat, Anderson described Aranguiz as a “world class player” and acknowledged that he was “far better” than him.
Anderson played his second singles match against Frenchman Thomas Jakobs. He had a slightly better showing of 8 points in his first round, however he couldn’t keep up with the speed of Jakobs and lost his second round with only 4 points on the scoreboard. His final singles game came against Korea’s Kim Jung Jun, who was seeded second. It was not to be for Anderson in the singles as Kim put on an impressive showing against him, winning 21, 21 to Anderson’s 3, 5.
In the doubles, Anderson was paired with Canada’s Mikhail Bilenki. Their first doubles match came towards the end of the first evening as they took on the Italian-Swiss duo of Yuri Ferrigno and Luca Olgiati, who Anderson had mentioned he’d played before. The duo put their all out there however couldn’t make their mark and lost their match 21, 21 to 4, 9. Anderson said that “doubles is a much harder game” and that showed on the courts.
Their second and third matches were against the Malaysian duo of Noor Azwan Noorland and Muhammad Ikhwan Ramli, where they lost out 21, 21 to 7, 10 and the number one seeded Choi Jungman and Kim Jung Jun of Korea, which they played on Friday afternoon and unfortunately got beat 21, 21 to 4, 4. This knocked Anderson out of the tournament. When asked what he could take away from it, Anderson said “It’s a great experience to play against the top players in the game. I’ve now got more time to watch as the last two days go on.”
Andrew Davies
The second Scot to take to the courts was 17-year-old Andrew Davies, playing in the SH 6 category. Davies played his first game against Tokyo bronze medalist Krysten Coombs, who he gave a tough battle. Despite his best efforts, Davies lost out 21, 21 to 10, 16 against Coombs, and he went again later on Wednesday afternoon against the 3/4 seeded Charles Noakes of France. Davies admitted that this game “wasn’t as good as the first” as he couldn’t keep up with Noakes. He got knocked out of the men’s singles with a loss of 21, 21 to 7, 8. In the doubles category, Davies was paired up with Poland’s Daria Bujnicka who he said he had played with before.
Their first match was on Wednesday evening, facing top seeded England’s Rachel Choong and Jack Shephard. The pair were unfortunately no match for the top players as they lost out 21, 21 to 7, 7. Their second match was against duo Nilton Quispe Ignacio and Giuliana Poveda Flores of Peru. The first round did not go well for the duo as the Peruvian side beat them 21-5. The second round got off to a better start with the duo trying their best to keep up however the Peruvian side managed to break away. It was a better round for the pairing however they were unable to make that final push and lost 21-8, knocking the Scottish youngster out of the tournament.
Reflecting on his tournament as a whole, Davies said that “I’ve learnt a lot from watching people play and the way that people prepare for matches. I think I was using this tournament as a guide to see how close I am to the rest and to the top players.” When asked about his next steps, Davies said “I was thinking about a couple of tournaments for the rest of the year. There’s a couple domestic ones like the UK championships. Then an international in Tokyo that I’m hoping to go to.”
Colin Leslie
The third and final Scot to represent was the oldest competitor, 53-year-old Colin Leslie, who reached (currently) the quarter finals of the men’s singles in SL 3. Leslie’s group featured two Indian athletes, Dillaswar Rao Gadela and second seeded Kumar Nitesh. Leslie first faced Nitesh, and gave him a run for his money in the first round however couldn’t quite make it stick and lost 21-10. He wasn’t able to keep up with Nitesh’s speed and lost his second round 21-3. All hope was not lost however as he faced Gadela in his second match.
After a disappointing loss in his first match on Thursday morning, Leslie came prepared to win in the afternoon. He comfortably won his first round comfortably 21-10, despite a sense of competitiveness at the start of the match. In his second round, Gadela wasn’t ready to stand down and the two battled for the lead in the beginning, Leslie started to pull away at the 8 point mark and from there it was all over.
Leslie won 21-7 and was the only Scot who was about to make it through to the quarter finals. In his first round of the quarter finals he faced Nehal Gupta of India. He seemed determined to make it further and started off strong, however he was unable to match the energy of Gupta and lost the first round 21-10. Unfortunately it was much of the same for Leslie as the second round appeared to be exactly the same as the first, finishing 21-10. This knocked out Leslie but he still put on a great show. Leslie reflected on his tournament saying “for myself, tournament wise I wasn’t sure if I had made it or not being first reserve and not knowing until five o’clock on the Tuesday evening. Great I got in, unexpected to get through to the quarter finals so I’m really pleased, I’m the oldest-standing competitor here and I’m a double amputee so I’m going through hoops to try and prove to people that it can be done.”
The 4 Nations Para Badminton Championships continue the weekend with semi finals tomorrow and ending on Sunday being the big finals.
By Lois Smillie