Under 15 and 19s Championships - October 2024

Highland Badminton Group held their Annual Scottish Badminton Sanctioned B-Grade Under 15s and 19s Tournament on Saturday 26th October in Inverness Royal Academy. We had 43 players with a great representation from all over Scotland taking part from as far North as Orkney, to Stornoway in the West, Aberdeen in the East and Glasgow and Dundee in the South.

The day started with the singles competitions in both age groups. All played in groups with either the top 1 or 2 from each group going forward to play-offs. There were some great group games across the age groups.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝘀 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀

The two semi-finals were between Kaliq Rafiddi, Glasgow (1) against Aberdeen’s Aayush Nagdeve with Rafiddi winning 21-13, 21-15. The second semi-final was between Highland Drew Murdoch (2) and Aaditya Shah, Aberdeen resulting in Murdoch winning 21-6, 21-13. The final then between number 1 seed Rafiddi and 2 seed Murdoch, saw the boys have some great rallies with Murdoch winning 21-12, 21-19.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱𝘀 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀

We had two quarter-finals, the first between Moray’s Isla Johnston and Rose Christie with Johnston winning 21-6, 21-14. The other one was between Caithness’ Erna Thain and Glasgow’s Singdha Biswas with Biswas winning 21-6, 21-14. In the semi-finals Johnston played 1 seed Akshara Chavan from Glasgow with Chavan winning 21-8, 21-18. The second semi-final was between Western Isle’s Isla Fraser and Biswas with Fraser winning 21-18, 11-21, 21-18. The final was battled out between Chavan and Fraser, which was a well-played close game with Chavan edging the win 21-17, 21-17.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝘀 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀

We had two quarter-finals, the first between Moray’s Callum Mcwhirter and Luca Iannetta from Dundee was closely fought right to the end but it was Iannetta that came out on top winning 21-18, 22-24, 21-19. The other one was between Orkney’s Sam Groundwater and Glasgow’s Charlie Junnor, with Junnor winning 21-16, 21-15. In the semi-finals Iannetta played 1 seed Thomas Fragell from Aberdeen with Fragell winning 21-10, 21-8. The second semi-final was Junnor and Lucas Chin from Glasgow, Junnor winning 21-16, 13-21, 21-16. The final then between Fragell and Junnor, saw Fragell win 21-13, 21-9.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝘀 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀

The two semi-finals were between number 1 seed Jody Groundwater from Orkney and Shona Brown from Glasgow with Groundwater winning 21-8, 21-9. The other semi-final was between Number 2 seed Chloe Mackenzie from Caithness and Disha Nandish from Aberdeen with Mackenzie winning 21-17, 21-9. The Final was a great match with Groundwater taking on her doubles partner Mackenzie, the girls battled it out with some great rallies but Groundwater proved too strong for Mackenzie on the day winning 21-12, 21-12.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝘀 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀

This was played over two groups with top two through to play-offs. The first of the two was between number 1 seeds Murdoch and Rafiddi and Caithness’s Angus Mackay and Rory Nicolson with Murdoch and Rafiddi winning 21-11, 21-17. The second semi-final was between the scratch pairing of Murray Clark, Orkney & Aayush Nagdeve and Donald Coull, Moray & Finlay Mcdonald, Caithness with Clark & Nagdeve winning 21-16, 21-19. The final was then between Murdoch & Rafiddi and Clark & Nagdeve with Murdoch & Rafiddi winning 21-10, 21-4.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱𝘀 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀

This was played in the form of a round robin, with some great games. Winning all their games and taking 1st place was Biswas & Chavan both Glasgow and the runners-up were Caithness’s Ashlyn Gunn and Fraser from Stornoway.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝘀 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀

This was played in the form of a round robin with some phenomenal games and rallies along the way. The deciding game for top spot was played between 1 seeds Thomas Fragell and Sam Groundwater and number 2 seeds Lucas Chin & Callum Mcwhirter, was a game which went to 3 sets with Fragell & Groundwater winning 21-19, 23-25, 21-15, Chin & Mcwhirter were then runners-up.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝘀 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀

This was also played in the form of the round robin. With top seeds Jody Groundwater & Chloe Mackenzie winning all their games only dropping 34 points over 6 sets to take the win. The runners-up were Brown & Nandish winning 2 of their 3 games comfortably.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀

This was played over two groups with top two going through to play-offs. The first of the two semi-finals was between 1 seeds Murdoch & Fraser and number 2 seeds Nicolson & Gunn with Murdoch & Fraser winning 21-12, 21-11. The second of the semi-finals was between Caithness’ Matthew Cook & Moray’s Rose Christie and Moray’s Donald Coull & Isla Johnston with Coull & Johnston winning 21-13, 21-15. The final was a great match between the 2 pairs with Murdoch & Fraser taking the win 21-18, 21-18.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀

This was played over two groups with top two through to play-offs. First of the two semi-finals was between Aberdeen’s Fragell & Nandish against scratch pairing Brown & William Sendall, Black Isle with Fragell & Nandish winning 21-9, 21-10. The second semi-final was between 1 seeds Calum Mcwhirter & Chloe Mackenzie and siblings Sam & Jody Groundwater with Mcwhirter & Mackenzie winning 21-16, 21-16. The final then saw Fragell & Nandish play Mcwhirter & Mackenzie and after a lengthy game with some impressive rallies and shots, Fragell & Nandish took the win 21-19, 22-20.

Full Report link

Special mention to Drew Murdoch and Thomas Fragell who both won the treble!

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 this competition possible to run. Also, thanks to all the staff at the Inverness Royal Academy Sports Centre.