HBG - NEWS 

HBG Under 15s Open Championships

Kicked off with the singles competitions, both boys and girls were a knock out with consolation competition. Lewis Malcolm had a marathon game to beat Rory Nicolson (2/3) 19-21 21-16 21-16 to secure his semi-final, where he then beat Dhaill Mackay (2/3) in another 3 setter 21-7 18-21 17-21 to put him into the final. Callum Richardson put out the no.1 seed Drew Murdoch 21-8 21-10 in the semi-final, to secure his place in the final which he then went onto win 21-15 21-8.

Ava Cook kicked of her winning streak of the day by beating the no.1 seed Ashlyn Gunn 21-10 21-12 in the semi-final and then beat the no.2 seed Natalie Macaulay 21-9 21-11 in the final.

The boy’s consolation was won by Rory Nicolson 16-14 against Alexander Mackay.
The girl’s consolation was won by Freya Mackay again 16-14 against Carla Edwards.

The levels competitions the boys played knockout with a consolation; the girls played a round robin with 4 pairings. The finalists of the singles Natalie and Ava paired up and were an unbeatable team winning all their games, dropping no games throughout the round robin.  Ashlyn Gunn and Freya Swanson secured second place only dropping games to the champions 10-21, 18-21.

The boys’ doubles seen some marathon games; Alexander Mackay & Lewis Malcolm secured their place in the final by beating Drew Murdoch &  Liam Sinclair19-21 21-19 21-18. Angus Mackay and Rory Nicolson got through to the final by winning 21-17 21-15 against Matthew Cook & Dhaill Mackay who had previously been involved in a 3 setter. After a few cookies the boys had a tremendous final, first
game going in the favour of Alexander and Lewis 26-24 but Angus and Rory dug deep and came back winning the next two games 21-12 21-19. Drew Murdoch and Liam Sinclair won the consolation 21-13, against Kian Munro and Callum Richardson.

Mixed Doubles was two groups of 4 with the top pair in each group playing in a final.  
Group A – Callum Richardson & Natalie Macaulay kept a clean sheet, won all their matches in two games to top the group.  
Group B – Matthew Cook and Ava Cook won all their matches only dropping one game in a three setter against Rory Nicolson and Ashlyn Gunn to get their place in the final (the third final of the day for Ava).  Callum Richardson & Natalie Macaulay finished off the day winning 21-11, 21-16.

Congratulations to all the winners but a special mention to Callum Richardson (BS,
MX), Natalie Macaulay (GD, MX) and Ava Cook (GS, GD) who all won 2 events.

Junior Inter-Area Restricted Under 15s & U18s Team Event 2023

Junior Inter-Area Restricted Team event took placed on Sunday at Sir Craig Reedie Badminton Centre Glasgow. Which saw Highland have a team in both under 15s and Under 18s. This being the first event for many outwith Highland. We were lucky to have the teams accompanied and coached by Andrew Durrand and Ross Groundwater, without these pair this would not have been possible.

Great experience for both teams members, they all played well and hopefully gained from the experience and have plenty to build on for future tournaments.

The under 15s were represented by Drew Murdoch, Donald Coull & Kurt Griffiths all Moray and Matthew Cook, Caithness made up the boys. The girls were Natalie MacAulay Moray and then 3 Caithness girls Ava Cook, Carla Edwards and Hallie Bremner. The team Captain was Caithness' Ava Cook.

The under 18s, was primarily made up of a mix of last years under 15s and 18s team, lead by Orkney's Jody Groundwater. The team consisted of only 3 boys Sam Groundwater Orkney, Calum Mcwhirter and Finlay Murdoch Moray, due to limited availability of boys. The other girls in the team were Chloe Mackenzie, Kirsty Henderson and Chloe Begg all Caithness.

Full results of the teams games can be seen via the link below.

Once again many thanks Andrew and Ross for accompanying the teams, also to the parents for transporting the children either to Inverness to travel on the team mini-bus or taking them direct to Glasgow.

Mackay & Leslie sweep the boards both winning the treble in this year’s Highland Badminton Group Senior Restricted

Mackay & Leslie sweep the boards both winning the treble in this year’s Highland Badminton Group Senior Restricted which took place on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th September in the Black Isle Leisure Centre in Fortrose.

20 men and 14 women battling it out over the two days from all over the Highland Badminton Group Area.

The Friday night saw the singles competition take place. The men’s singles were played over two groups and then the plays-off for the main overall winner and also a consolation play-off.  Within the group stages we saw some great games 2 of which went to 3 sets!  Mark Mackay, Caithness topped Group A, Steven McGregor, Nairn come 2nd with Iain Nicolson Caithness and Sam Groudwater Orkney headed to the consolation.  Group B saw Great Glen’s Callum Craig top the group followed by Thomas Calder from Shetland with Erlend Ballantine and John Macculloch through to the consolation. Callum and Thomas fought it out for the top place with a 3 setter which Callum won 11-21, 21-19, 21-12.  The main draw saw young Thomas Calder and Mark Mackay play with Mark coming out top 21-15, 21-17. The other semifinal saw young Callum Craig challenge Steven McGregor with Callum winning 21-2, 21-11.  The final was very well played by both with some great rallies,  Mark clinched the title winning 21-15, 21-17. The Consolation saw young Sam Groundwater take on John Mcculloch in the first semi-final which went to 3 sets with Sam winning 21-16, 13-21, 21-18. The 2nd semi-final should have been Erlend and Iain, But Erlend retired giving Iain a place in the final – but Iain decided enough was enough for one night he then also retired which meant Sam won the Consolation draw.

The ladies singles was a round robin, with Shannon Leslie, Orkney coming out on top and Orkney’s Jody Groundwater taking second.

The levels were held on Saturday, the men’s events saw the top 2 teams from each of the 3 groups going through to the main draw and the rest going into the consolation rounds. The main draw saw 2 very good semi-finals. First being Mark Mackay Caithness and Thomas Calder Shetland against Callum Craig Great Glen and Callum Mcwhirter Elgin go head-to-head with Mark and Thomas, with Mark and Thomas securing their place in the final winning 21-13, 21-8. The 2nd semi-final saw a closely fought battle between the Orkney duo of father and son Eion and Erlend Ballantine against John Durrand Caithness and Alistair Gordon from Great Glen. It was the father and son duo who come out top 20-22, 22-20, 21-17 after a nail-biting semi-final securing them a place in the final. In the final Mark and Thomas dominated winning 21-14, 21-10. The consolation final was a battle between Caithness duo Matthew Robertson and Iain Nicolson against Great Glen’s James Brown and Mark Sproule, which saw the Caithness pair win 21-14, 21-18.

 Ladies Doubles was played in two groups with the top 2 heading to the main draw play off and the others playing in the consolation. The main draw saw two very well played semi-finals the first of them between Jody Groundwater and Emma Work from Orkney and Chloe Mackenzie Caithness and Joanne Pottinger Orkney, everyone in the hall got to witness a great match between these teams. Jody and Emma come out on top after a marathon 3 setter 22-20, 19-21, 23-21.  The 2nd pair securing their place in the final was Orkney’s Shannon Leslie and Gemma Foulis after beating Emma Donald, Moray and Rachel Birse Great Glen 21-16, 21-18.  The Final saw Shannon and Gemma come out top 21-19, 21-16. In the consolation final Eleanor Bonser and Joanne Welsey saw off Emma Sendall and Cara Strath after a lengthy 3 setter 19-21, 21-14. 21-19.

 After a long day of play the mixed doubles, was played as an elimination with consolation. There were some great round one games and quarter-final games. But making the semi-finals were Mark & Shannon against Erlend and Jody with Mark and Shannon winning comfortable 21-10, 21-11. The second semi was Orkney duo Eion and Emma against Caithness’ John Durrand and Orkney’s Joanne Pottinger, with Eion and Emma winning 21-13, 21-17. The final then saw Mark and Shannon who were both on fire win 21-7, 21-8, but that was after some great long rallies between the pairings. The consolation semi-finals were John Macculloch, Culbokie and Cara Strath Lochcarron against Gemma Foulis Orkney and Callum Mcwhirter Elgin – with Callum and Gemma winning 21-13, 21-12. The second semi saw Skye’s Michelle Macintosh and Orkney’s Ross Groundwater taking on James Brown and Emma Sendall both Great Glen, with James and Emma coming out top 18-21, 21-9, 21-12. The final was a good game between the pairings with Callum and Gemma winning 21-17, 21-18.

 A massive thank you to all the players that came along to compete, all the volunteers that helped behind the scenes and on the day to make these competitions possible to run. Also, thanks to all the staff at the Fortrose Leisure Centre.