Caithness Junior Badminton - Season 2006-2007

Contents:- U14 Schools-|-U12 HBG-|-U17 County-|-U17 & U19 (Dingwall)-|-U15 Champs-|-Orkney Inter-County-|-U13 & U15 (Inverness) -

Under 14 Schools Championships - 2006-2007

A junior badminton team from Thurso High School has narrowly missed out on landing a national title.

The Under 14's won the Highland regional competition to qualify for the final of the Scottish Schools' Badminton Union champioships in Grangemouth. They battled their way through to the final where they met Auchinleck Academy. They took the early initiative, with Jamie Henderson winning his boys' singles and Peter Sangster & Kate MacNicol winning the mixed.

The girls' doubles would have clinched the title for them and Lauren Gunn and Kayleigh Wright were 18-14 ahead. Unfortunately, they could not hang on and went down 21-19.

With Tanya Cowie and Dean Smith & Martyn Campbell suffering narrow reverses in the girls' singles and boys' doubles, respectively, the Ayrshire school secured a 3-2 victory.

The Thurso team are seen below with the Highland Shield they earned after victories over Wick High, Fortrose Academy and Kingussie High.

report from Jane Grant.

Back L to R:- Kayleigh Wright, Martyn Campbell, Dean Smith, Fern MacDonald & Kate MacNicol Front L to R:- Jamie Henderson, Tanya Cowie, Lauren Gunn & Peter Sangster

picture by James Henderson

Under 12 HBG Championships (Dingwall) - 08/02/07

Play was fast and furious at last weekend's annual under-12 tourney run by Highland Badminton Group. Thirty-two boys and 14 girls from Kingussie to Kirkwall and from Lochcarron to Nairn took part in the event in Dingwall Leisure Centre.

There was a large entry from Caithness, for whom this was their taste of competition outwith their clubs There was a genmeral tendency early on to rush through games and make unforced errors. But as players relaxed, the quality improved markedly and the latter stages featured some cracking contests. The youngsters coped well with the new scoring system, with adult umpires only occasionally required to intervene.

Likewise, there were very few disputed calls with organisers delighted with the court etiquette and sportsmanship on display. The all-day competition over-ran its allotted slot and HBG was indebted to the centre staff for granting an extra hour to ensure all the plate =
competitions could be finished.

The Lochcarron contingent showed up well, none more so than 11-year-old Joshua Holder who contrived to win all three titles without dropping a single set. Joshua defeated 10-year-old Struan Ross, from Inverness, in the final of the singles. Struan was also on the losing side of the net in the level doubles where Keanu Thomson were outgunned by Joshua and club-mate James Ross.

In what proved a busy day for Stuart, he also got to the final of the mixed where he and Bethany Black went down in two hard-fought sets to Joshua and Isabel Dalgety. The latter had earlier been knocked out by Bethany in the semi-finals of the singles though the latter found fellow Inverness player Fiona Chatterton just too strong for her in an entertaining final.

The duo teamed up to claim the doubles title where they prevailed over Isabel and Lochcarron club-mate Heather MacKenzie.

Caithness did not feature among the main silverware though Andrew Dunnett won two plate competitions. He beat a Forres opponent to win the singles before teaming up with Michael Budge to triumph in the boys doubles.

Their opponents in the final were club-mates Robert Campbell and John Coghill. Eilidh Paterson did well in the main tourney, partnering Lori Crowe to the last four of the girls' doubles before she and Orcadian Matthew Reid reached the last four of the mixed.

Caithness pair Cameron Duffy and Vicky Rosie battled their way through to the plate final of the mixed, where they narrowly went down to a Lochcarron duo.

On the domestic front, Thurso completed a quick double success over Castletown/ Dunnet in Caithness Badminton Association's under-16 boys league. They won 9-0 in Thurso but the villagers took advantage of home advantage in the return match at Castletown. Martyn Campbell and Ben Nicolson won the lead match, with the town side eventually scraping through 5-4.

Dunnet earlier scored a 8-1 win over Ormlie in the under-13 boys league.

Under 17 Championships - 09/01/07

• Boys singles:-
  • Final
    • Steven bt Stevie 21-7.
  • semi-finals
    • Steven Mackenzie(CD) bt Stevie Cunningham (L) 21-4.
    • Bryan McKiddie (W) bt Thomas Sutherland (W) 21-15.
  • Plate final
    • Matthew Swanson (CD)bt Ryan Jones (T) 15-7.
• Boys doubles
  • Final
    • Steven&Pher bt Thomas & Roddy 21-17.
  • semi-finals
    • Steven MacKenzie & Pher Nicolson (CD) bt Stevie Cunningham & Alan Larnach (L) 21-1.
    • Thomas Sutherland & Roddy MacKenzie (W) bt Kris Hamilton & Bryan McKiddie (W) 21-17.
  • Plate final
    • Matthew Swanson & Douglas Hill (W) bt Martin Sutherland & John Georgeson (L)21-3.
• Girls singles
  • Final
    • Donna by Michelle 21-14.
  • semi-finals
    • Donna Majilton (W) bt Kimberley Doig (T) 21-6.
    • Michelle Cowie (T) bt Megan Ross (T) 21-4
  • Plate final
    • Sarah Taylor (W) bt Beth Henderson (W) 15-1.
• Girls doubles
  • Final
    • Donna & Sarah bt Michelle & Debbie 21-14.
  • semi-finals
    • Michelle Cowie & Debbie Stewart (T) bt Kerry Mackay & Amanda Sutherland (W) 21-6.
    • Donna Majilton & Sarah Taylor bt Kimberley Doig & Megan Ross (T) 21-10.
  • Plate final
    • Sarah Sutherland & Beth Henderson (W) bt Chloe Smith & Eilish McArthy (T) 21-2.
• Mixed doubles
  • Final
    • Steven & Michelle bt Thomas & Donna 21-3.
  • semi-finals
    • Steven McKenzie & Michelle Cowie bt Bryan McKiddie &Kerry Mackay 21-6.
    • Thomas Sutherland & Donna Majilton bt Roddy MacKenzie & Sarah Taylor21-14.
  • Plate final
    • Pher Nicolson & Debbie Stewart bt Stevie Cunningham & Catherine Georgeson (L) 21-20.

Under 17 & 19 Championships (Dingwall) - 18/11/06

Caithness competitors showed up well at Highland Badminton Group's latest youth competition in Dingwall Leisure Centre on Saturday. Inverness, Easter Ross and Orkney were also represented in the under-17 and under-19 championships restricted to players from the Highlands and Islands.

The silverware was well dispersed with every area taking home at least one title. Six titles went the way of Caithness, who completed a near clean sweep of the under-19 honours.

Thurso pair Megan Ross and Louise Campbell landed the under-17 level doubles while Megan linked up with Beauly's Paul Carrie to win the mixed. Megan was pipped for the singles crown after going down in three sets to Culloden's Rhian McGilvary. Rhian had ousted Louise in the previous round in what proved one of the best contests of the tourney. The pair had each won fiercely contested sets before Rhian prevailed in a knife-edge decider 22-20.

Jamie Henderson, from Thurso, did well competing with much older opponents to reach the last four of the singles and the last four of the level doubles where he played with Andrew Cumming, from Wick.

The under-19s had a small entry though the standard of play was very high. Culloden's Martin Gates' success in the singles prevented a clean sweep for Caithness. Michelle Cowie, from Thurso, was the most successful player of the tourney, winning a hat-trick of titles. Michelle beat club-mate Kimberley Doig in the final of the singles before the pair combined to lift the level doubles. Michelle then partnered Abdul Mkith, from Wick, to victory in the mixed in an-all Caithness final versus Kimberley and Wick's Thomas Sutherland. Abdul was beaten in the final of the singles but added a second title when combining with club-mate Roddy Mackay to land the level doubles. They came top ahead of Thomas & Greg Cormack, from Wick, after a round-robin series of games.

Results - B - Beauly, C - Caithness, Cu - Culloden, I - nverness, O - Orkney.

Under-17

• Boys singles
  • Final
    • Paul bt Gary 21-10, 21-7.
  • Semi-finals
    • Paul Carrie (B) bt Ethan Bews (O) 21-6, 21-9.
    • Gary Nicolson (O) bt Jamie Henderson (C) 21-15, 21-14.
  • Plate final
    • Darren Love (I) bt Duncan Grant (I) 21-18.
• Boys doubles
  • Final
    • Gary & Ethan bt Paul & Stuart 21-10, 22-20.
  • Semi-finals
    • Paul Carrie & Stuart Fraser (B) bt Ewan Gray & William Thomson (O) 21-16, 15-, 21-12.
    • Gary Nicolson & Ethan Bews bt Andrew Cumming & Jamie Henderson (C) 18-21, 21-18, 21-8.
• Girls singles
  • Final
    • Rhian bt Megan 21-14, 15-21, 21-15.
  • Semi-finals
    • Megan Ross (C) bt Molly Mackay (Cu) 21-12, 21-18.
    • Rhian McGilvary (Cu) bt Louise Campbell (C) 21-19, 19-21, 22-20.
  • Plate
    • Joanne Pottinger (O) bt Ruth Flett (O) 21-15.
• Girls doubles
  1. Megan Ross & Louise Campbell.
  2. Joanne Pottinger & Joanne Hill (O).
  3. Molly Mackay & Louise Clark (Cu).
• Mixed doubles
  • Final
    • Paul & Megan bt Gary& Ruth 21-17, 21-16.
  • Semi-finals
    • Paul Carrie & Megan Ross bt Ethan Bews & Joanne Pottinger 21-10
    • Gary Nicolson & Ruth Flett bt Ethan Gray & Joanne Hill 21-17.

Under-19

• Boys singles
  • Final
    • Martin Gates (Cu) bt Abdul Mkith(C) 21-17, 21-12.
• Boys doubles
  1. Abdul Mkith & Roddy Mackay (C).
  2. Thomas Sutherland & Greg Cormack (C)
  3. Martin Gates & Donald Slater (Cu).
• Girls singles
  • Final
    • Michelle Cowie bt Kimberley Doig (C) 21-12, 21-10.
• Girls doubles
  • Final
    • Kimberley Doig & Michelle Cowie bt Ruth Flett & Isla Slater (O) 21-8, 21-10.
• Mixed doubles
  • Final
    • Michelle Cowie & Abdul McKith bt Kimberley Doig & Thomas Sutherland 21-15, 21-12.

report and results from Jane Grant

Under 15 Championships - 11/11/06

Competition was razor-sharp at Caithness Badminton Association's under-15 championships in Wick Games Hall on Saturday. Organisers were taken aback by the number of knife-edge contests fought out in the latter stages of the competition. The above-average length of games meant that they ran out of time to complete the all-day event and had to abandon the plate in the mixed doubles.

The final of the boys singles was an all-Wick affair with Ciaran Duffy beating club-mate Sean Munro in the final. The pair were favourites to land the level doubles but they were upset in the final in two close sets by Peter Sangster and Martyn Campbell, who had won the under-13 title the previous week.

The under-13 girls champion, Thurso's Kate MacNicol on Saturday prevailed in a three set semi versus Tanya Cowie before losing out in the final to another club-mate Bronwyn Ross. Kate however teamed up with Kayleight Wright to defeat Bronwyn and Dunnet's Joanna Mancini after a tense three setter in the final of the level doubles. Kate and Peter picked up their second titles when they joined forces in the mixed to beat Wick duo Jodie Anderson and Alan McGee in yet another nerve-tingling final.

Players from the Lybster club showed up well and there were victories for them in the plate finals of the boys and girls doubles.

Results (D - Dunnet, L - Lybster, T - Thurso, W - Wick):

• Boys singles
  • Final
    • Ciaran bt Sean 15-4, 15-9.
  • Semi-finals
    • Sean Munro (W) bt Michael Hill (W) 15-14, 12-15, 15-13.
    • Ciaran Duffy (W) bt Callum Grant (L) 15-5, 15-4.
  • Plate - final
    • Martyn Campbell (D) bt Connor Craigie (D) 15-4
• Boys doubles
  • Final
    • Peter & Martyn bt Ciaran & Sean 15-13, 16-14.
  • Semi-finals
    • Ciaran & Sean bt Craig Jappy & Craig McKiddie (W) 15-13, 15-12
    • Peter & Martyn btAlan McGee & Euan Jappy (W)15-12, 13-15, 15-12.
  • Plate - final
    • Michael & Gavin Sutherland (L) bt Sean Fraser (T) & Jake Crawford (W) 21-11.
• Girls singles
  • Final
    • Bronwyn bt Kate 15-13, 15-9.
  • Semi-finals
    • Kate MacNicol (T) bt Tanya Cowie (T) 10-15, 15-12, 15-7.
    • Bronwyn Ross (T) bt Lauren Gunn (T) 10-15, 15-13, 15-12.
  • Plate - final
    • Stephanie Clark (T) bt Camilla Ramsoy (L) 15-7.
• Girls doubles
  • Final
    • Kate & Kayleigh bt Bronwyn & Joanna 15-11, 8-15, 15-13.
  • Semi-finals
    • Bronwyn & Joanna Mancini (D) bt Lauren & Tanya 15-14, 9-15, 15-9.
    • Kate & Kayleigh Wright (T) bt Iona Macmillan & Sarah Sutherland (L) 15-7, 15-10.
  • Plate - final
    • Sammy Bain & Gillian Mackay (L) bt Camilla Ramsoy (L) & Lynsey Gow (L) 22-20.
• Mixed doubles
  • Final
    • Kate & Peter bt Jodie & Alan 21-18
  • Semi-finals
    • Kate & Peter bt Lauren & Martyn 15-3.
    • Jodie Anderson (W) & Alan McGee bt Sarah & Ciaran 15-11.

report and results from Jane Grant

Junior Inter-County v Orkney (Thurso) - 28/10/06

Wick Games Hall on Saturday played host to the annual junior badminton challenge between Caithness and Orkney.

The inter-county tussle was held over from the tail end of last season when the island side's scheduled trip was scuppered by foul weather Fears that the re-arranged match would meet a similar fate fortunately proved wide of the mark. A let-up in the stormy conditions allowed Orkney to fulfil the fixture, which involved secondary age youngsters.

Caithness dominated at the younger and older age groups to retain the shield, put up five years ago. After winning its first two stagings, the islanders have since failed to get their hands on the trophy.

Orkney under-14s and 15s both enjoyed victories but they were heavily outgunned at under-13, under-16 and under-17.

While the islanders have some very talented individuals, they currently lack the strength in depth of their mainland opponents.

It was also apparent that Caithness the lion's share of the games which went down to the wire.

The overall match score ended 43-20 in favour of Caithness.

report and results from Jane Grant

Under 13 & 15 Championships (Inverness) - 07/10/06

Caithness junior badminton players were in action at the weekend at the under-13 and under-15 Highland restricted championships in Inverness. They faced a dawn start for the all-day competition in the city's sports centre which attracted entries from all parts of the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland. The 12-strong far north contingent generally did well though several of the more experienced campaigners played below par. Players from the county won two titles and three runners-up medals.

Under-13 Kate McNicol teamed up with Hannah Duncan, from Forres, to victory in the level doubles while Kate and Halkirk team-mate Peter Sangster were runners-up in the mixed. Peter and partner Marc Dingwall, from Forres, meanwhile narrowly lost out in the final of the boys doubles. Castletown pair Craig Manson and Martyn Campbell were knocked out in the main competition but went on to win the plate. Hannah was on top form, winning a hat-trick of titles while her Forres team-mate Alan Clark triumphed in both doubles' events.

In the under-15s, Thurso's Lauren Gunn combined with Shetland's Stuart Sineath to win the mixed doubles after a thrilling three setter versus an Inverness duo. Paul Wares, from Thurso, was beaten semi-finalist in his singles.

Under-13

• Girls singles
  • Winner
    • Hannah Duncan, Forres.
  • Runner-up
    • Lucy Ross, Lochcarron.
• Girls doubles
  • Winners
    • Hannah Duncan & Kate McNicol, Caithness.
  • Runners-up
    • Fiona Chatterton & Kirsty Dick, Inverness.
• Boys singles
  • Winner
    • Roy Wood, Shetland.
  • Runner-up
    • Stewart Ferns, Culbokie.
  • Plate
    • Chay Ross, Inverness.
• Boys doubles
  • Winners
    • Darren Love & Alan Clark, Forres.
  • Runners-up
    • Marc Dingwall, Forres & Peter Sangster, Caithness
  • Plate winner
    • Craig Manson & Martyn Campbell, Caithness.
• Mixed doubles
  • Winners
    • Darren Love & Hannah Duncan.
  • Runners-up
    • Peter Sangster and Kate McNicol.

Under-15

• Girls singles
  • Winner
    • Isabella Blakely, Fort Augustus.
  • Runner-up
    • Molly Mackay, Inverness
  • Plate
    • Sian Tulloch, Forres.
• Girls doubles
  • Winners
    • Isabella Blakely & Rebecca Reid, Orkney.
  • Runners-up
    • Freya Cushnie & Lucy Ross, Lochcarron.
• Boys singles
  • Winner
    • Stuart Sineath, Shetland
  • Runner-up
    • Euan Duncan, Kingussie
  • Plate
    • Scott Duncan, Kingussie.
• Boys doubles
  • Winners
    • Stuart Sineath & Roy Wood, Shetland.
  • Runners-up
    • Euan Duncan & Douglas Gray, Kingussie.
• Mixed doubles
  • Winners
    • Stuart Sineath & Lauren Gunn, Caithness
  • Runners-up
    • Duncan Grant & Victoria Smith, Inverness.

report and results from Jane Grant

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