Caithness players fight for honours in Orkney badminton championships
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Half a dozen Caithness players travelled across the Pentland Firth to take part in Orkney Badminton Association’s R Clouston Ltd Orkney Championships, a Badminton Scotland “B” ranking event.
Mark Mackay, Iain Nicolson, Matthew Robertson, Lauren Gunn, Beckie Gunn and Chloe Mackenzie were the county’s competitors at the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall.
The men’s doubles event was played in groups, with the top two pairings going through to play-offs.
Mackay played with father-in-law Gordon Keith (Shetland) in Group C and they won their two games, securing them a place in the quarter-finals. They faced Caithness duo Nicolson and Robertson, who had won one of their two Group A games.
In the play-off the experienced pairing of Mackay and Keith prevailed 21-18, 21-7 against Robertson and Nicolson.
In the semi-finals Mackay and Keith faced Daniel Innes (Lothian) and Shetland’s Thomas Calder, losing the first set 21-8, winning the second 21-19 then after a hard fight going down in the third by 21-12.
The ladies’ doubles was played in two groups, with the two in each going through to the semi-finals.
Group A saw Mackenzie pair up with Orkney’s Joanna Pottinger. They won one game and lost one after a well-fought three sets but secured their place in the semis.
B Gunn and L Gunn teamed up in Group B and won two of their three group games, also securing their place in the semi-finals.
The semis saw B Gunn and L Gunn take on top seeds Gemma Foulis and Shannon Leslie (both Orkney) with the Orkney girls claiming the win 22-20, 21-17.
The other semi-final saw Mackenzie and Pottinger taking on the number two seeds, Orkney’s Jody Groundwater and Rebecca Reid, with the Orkney duo winning 21-15, 22-20.
The mixed doubles was played in a knockout format with consolation. Mackay and L Gunn justified their top seeding, as they defeated Orkney’s Gemma Foulis and Shetland’s Thomas Calder in the final 21-9, 21-13.
In the consolation, Nicolson and Mackenzie got to the final only for the more experienced Orkney pair Ross Groundwater and Jane Thomson to run out winners by 21-19, 21-19.
The following day saw the singles, with three of the Caithness travellers competing.
The men’s singles was played in a knockout format with a consolation plate. Mackay, the number one seed, progressed to the final against Orkney’s Andrew Reid.
The first set was level pegging up to 11. Mackay then found the zone and won 21-16, 21-10.
Nicolson reached the plate final where, after some prolonged, hard-fought rallies, 3/4 seed Daniel Innes (Lothian) emerged as winner by 21-7, 21-6.
Fifteen-year-old Mackenzie defeated number two seed Rebecca Reid (21-15, 23-21) on her way to the ladies’ singles semis where she was beaten by Orkney’s Jody Groundwater 21-12, 21-15 after some well-contested rallies.
