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Highland Badminton Group Senior Restricted 2024
Well what a start to the senior season in Highland Area with the Annual Senior Restricted which took place on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th September in the Black Isle Leisure Centre in Fortrose, kindly sponsored by City Plumbing Inverness. Which saw 19 men and 11 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 three 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 4 of which went to 3 sets! Mark Mackay, Caithness topped Group A, Sam Groundwater Orkney come 2nd with Mark Sproule, Great Glen and Lewis Lindsay Great Glen headed to the consolation. Group B saw Thomas Calder, Shetland top the group and Great Glen’s Callum Craig was Runner-up with Orkney’s Ross Groundwater and Skye’s Niall Munro through to the consolation. Group C saw Callum Mcwhirter; Elgin top the group with Nairn's Steven Mcgregor take 2nd leaving William Sendall to go into the consolation.
The main draw started with Steven MacGregor taking on Callum Craig in the quarter finals with Callum winning 21-17, 21-16, the second quarter-final was between Orkney’s Sam Groundwater and Elgin’s Callum Mcwhirter with Callum winning 21-13, 21-18. The first of the semi-finals was between Mark Mackay and Callum Craig with Mark winning 19-21, 21-12, 21-15. The second semi-final was between Thomas Calder and Callum Mcwhirter saw Thomas come out on top 21-10, 21-13. The final was fought between Mark and Thomas, Mark won after 3 sets, he lost the first 21-10, but came back strongly winning the next two 21-14, 21-5. The Consolation saw Mark Sproule take on Niall Munro in the final which was a well-played game by both parties with Niall taking the win 21-11, 17-21, 21-16.
The ladies’ singles saw 4 ladies compete in a round robin, with Jody Groundwater, Orkney coming out on top and Caithness’s Chloe Mackenzie runner-up and Gemma Foulis from Orkney taking 3rd in the pool.
The level doubles were held on Saturday morning and in the men’s event, the top 2 pairs from each of the 2 groups going through to the main draw and the rest going into the consolation round. The main draw semi-finals, was Mark Mackay Caithness and Callum Mcwhirter, Elgin against Orkney duo Sam Groundwater and Erlend Ballantine with Mark & Callum winning 21-18, 21-13. The 2nd semi-final saw Thomas Calder, Shetland and Callum Craig, Great Glen take on Adam Wesley and Neil Whyte with Callum & Thomas winning 21-11, 21-14, securing Thomas and Callum a place in the final. In the final Mark & Callum won 21-17, 21-18 after some hard-fought rallies. The consolation final was a battle between Orkney’s Ross Groundwater & Gary Nicolson and Great Glen’s Nidhi Rajan & Mark Sproule with Nidhi & Mark winning 21-19, 8-21, 22-20 after a fantastic game with some great rallies.
Ladies Doubles was played in the form of a round robin, with each pair playing each other. Gemma Foulis & Shannon Leslie (1 seeds) had two 3 setters out of their 4 matches to secure the win. They had a 3-setter against Orkney’s Jody Groundwater & Joanne Pottinger 18-21, 21-18, 21-17 which saw Jody & Joanne take 2nd place. Gemma & Shannon’s other 3 setter was against newly formed Caithness pairing Lauren Gunn & Chloe Makenzie with Gemma & Shannon winning 13-21, 21-15, 21-15 which meant Lauren & Chloe got 3rd after losing 21-14, 21-19 to Joanne & Jody. The other respectful pairing were Skye’s Michelle Macintosh and Maressa Munro who had a great laugh on court and encouraged the other pairings, Eleanor Bonser & Shona Ruesch won 21-8, 21-13 against the Skye paring.
The mixed doubles event followed the same format as the men’s doubles with the top 2 pairs from each of the 3 groups going through to the main draw and the rest going into the consolation round. Group A Caithness Duo Mark Mackay & Lauren Gunn finished top of the group winning 22-20, 21-16, Callum Craig & Gemma Foulis were runners-up. Group B saw Thomas Calder & Shannon Leslie top the table after a 3-setter against runners up Callum Mcwhirter & Chloe Mackenzie with Thomas and Shannon winning 21-16, 18-21, 21-14 securing their top of the group win. Group C had a withdrawal due to injury; Erlend Ballantine & Jody topped the table winning 21-13, 21-13 against Neil Whyte and Shona Ruesch.
The two quarter-finals between Neil & Shona and Callum & Chloe saw Neil & Shona clinch it 22-20, 21-19 placing them in the semi-final against Mark & Lauren with Mark & Lauren winning 21-14, 21-14 securing their place in the final, the other side of the draw, saw Callum & Gemma play Erlend & Jody in the quarter-final with Callum & Gemma progressing after a 3-seater 14-21, 26-24, 21-14. Callum & Gemma then took on Thomas & Shannon with Thomas & Shannon winning 21-14, 21-17 securing their place in the final against Mark & Lauren. The final was a thrilling game to watch, going the full distance, but it was the younger pairing of Thomas and Shannon that clinched the trophies winning 21-15, 15-21, 21-19, an epic game to finish the day on.
The consolation final saw Gary Nicolson & Joanne Pottinger take on Adam Wesley and Eleanor Bonser with the Gary & Joanne winning 21-19, 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 and once again to City Plumbing, Inverness for their kind sponsorship.
Full Results via link below.
