Scottish Open 2024 – Joshua Apiliga on his second year of qualifying for the mens singles draw
Joshua Apiliga has put on another impressive performance at this year’s Scottish Badminton Open.
Yesterday the young Scot fought through three qualifying matches to secure his place in the main draw for a second year in a row.
For his first qualifying game, Apiliga beat Joel Köinig of Switzerland 21-13 and 21-18. Apiliga then took on fellow Scot Ganeshram Subramaniam Balaji in his second game, confidently winning 21-9 and 21-6. In a tougher third game he faced Timothy Lock from Canada. The young Scot had a close second set but managed to take the win scoring 21-17 and 24-22.
In his main draw game today, he faced Dimitar Yanakiev from Bulgaria. In an intense match he played strong in the first set but sadly Yanakiev managed to take it from him. He came back fighting in the second one, but his opponent just managed to pull away to secure the win. The game ended with a final score of 21-17 and 21-11. There was a slight pause during the game as Apiliga was having issues with his knee.
After his match, Apiliga said: “I think the first set was really good, I had chances in the first set for sure.”
However, he did acknowledge that that full day of games yesterday had taken its toll on him as he was feeling the tiredness today.
Despite his loss, the Scot remained positive about his performance, adding: “There is something about your home tournament, which is always quite special and really enjoyable.
“So, when I get on court here it’s just more about having fun and enjoying myself. I probably play my best badminton when I am doing that.”
At last year’s Open the young Scot unexpectedly qualified for the Men’s Singles main draw after he beat England’s Nadeem Dalvi, who was ranked number three at the time. Despite having faced knee injury problems prior to the championships, he managed to defeat four opponents to secure his position in the main draw. This was a career highlight moment for Apiliga.
Despite not managing to progress further in the championships than last year, the Scot has truly put on a great performance over the past two days.
We are not sure what is next in store for the promising player as Apiliga admitted he doesn’t know how much badminton he will continue to play.
He said: “Maybe that was my last tournament, but let’s see.”
Watch all the action: Home | Badminton Europe TV
Follow all results: Scottish Open 2024 | Tournamentsoftware.com
Get your tickets for the rest of the tournament: The Scottish Badminton Championships 2024 – Lokkaroom – Tickets