MacPherson at the double at Ashoka Scottish Nationals

Julie MacPherson won a brace of titles at Scotstoun over the weekend as the Ashoka Scottish National Badminton Championships came to a thrilling conclusion on Sunday evening.

The 28-year-old continued her recent dominance of the event, winning the women’s and mixed doubles to take her title tally to an impressive 17 – a total of seven mixed doubles and 10 women’s doubles titles.

In a weekend of high-intensity rallies and dramatic finishes, MacPherson and her partner Alex Dunn had to fight hard to take the mixed doubles title.

The top seeds came from behind in the semi-finals to win 18-21 21-13 21-15 over Callum Smith and Toni Woods while in the bottom half of the draw second seeds Chris Grimley and Ciara Torrance beat Grimley’s twin brother Matt and Brooke Stalker in an equally hard fought 16-21 21-15 21-17 victory.

The final was no less dramatic with Dunn and MacPherson coming out on top, courtesy of a 21-15 17-21 21-13 scoreline.

Torrance made up for that disappointment in the women’s doubles when she teamed up with long-standing partner MacPherson.

The pair have been a mainstay of Scottish badminton for a number of years and clinched their seventh title in a row together – and MacPherson’s 10^th in a row – when they beat joint 3/4 seeds Sophie Ford and Rachel Sugden 21-7 21-14 in the final.

But in the semi-finals their continued dominance of the women’s doubles looked shaky, when the other joint 3/4 seeds, Holly Newall and Toni Woods, took the first game.

MacPherson and Torrance regrouped to win 17-21 21-11 21-9 while Ford and Sugden had also come from behind to beat second seeds Stalker and Ishbel McCallister 15-21 21-13 21-15 in an equally compelling semi-final.

Sugden had earlier won her fifth women’s singles crown when she beat 2023 champion Lauren Middleton 21-9 21-14 in the final while Callum Smith won his sixth men’s singles gold medal in a row.

But there was disappointment for his opponent Matthew Waring, the second seed, who had to retire with an injury in the final.

In the last match of the day, second seeds Chris and Matt Grimley won their third men’s doubles title in a row and fourth overall, beating Dunn and Adam Pringle 21-13 22-20 in the final.

The Ashoka Scottish National Badminton Championships was staged at the National Badminton Academy, Scotstoun Sports Campus, from Friday 30 January to Sunday 1 February 2026.

Badminton Scotland would like to thank title sponsor Ashoka Restaurants, Sport Equipment sponsor VICTOR Sports, as well as the army of volunteers and officials who give freely of their time to make these events possible.

Full results are online here