Intersport (Gorn) Open, Kirkwall, Orkney - Season 2008-2009 - 07&08/11/08

Mixed Doubles winners - Casey Sangster & Mark Mackay.
Mark also won the Mens Singles' event.

Just when organisers and players began thinking the Inter(Gorn)Sport event was dwindling away into obscurity with a lack of participants, the badminton fraternity pulled together and boosted this seasons overall entry to one of the highest ever.

Players from Caithness, Edinburgh, Shetland and Orkney travelled to Kirkwall, Orkney and provided a scintillating exhibition of their talents, much to the delight of the onlooking audience.

A fairly poor entry for the Ladies' Singles event left Carolyn Young, Edinburgh with a much easier task of retaining her title than expected. But, youngster Rachel Reid, Orkney battled away and put in a worthy performance, only for the 'Jam Tart (Hearts supporter)' to add another piece of silverware to her luggage home to the Auld Reekie.

Mark Mackay, Caithness managed to regain the Men's Singles title by edging out Jason Jamieson, Shetland on the last point in a tight semi-final.  Then, continued to defeat event sponsor, Ian Gorn in the final.

The surprise of the weekend came in the Mens Doubles event - where one of the top seeded pairings - 'Ratter & Bird' were knocked out early by Orkney twosome, Calvin Reid and Trevor 'King o' 'e Horn'.

After Graeme Keith and Jason Jamieson, Shetland managed to beat Onion and Moosh, Orkney in a tight semi-final - the other side was left wide open for surprise finalists.  This was to be between Martyn Cook & Benji Mackay, Caithness and Calv & Trevor.

One of the best matches of the tournament keep both sets of players on their toes but the Orkney pairing moved onto the final with a 21-18 scoreline, in the final set.

Calv & Trevor v Martyn & Benji

Trevor sustained an unfortunate eye injury early in the final, which opened the door for the Shetland pairing to, by no means 'cruise to victory', but certainly knock the Orkney pairing out of their stride - and they managed to lift the title by 2 sets to 0.

It was to be a return of last seasons' finalists in the Ladies' Doubles with Lindsay Robertson & Kim Atkinson, Edinburgh against Carole Mowat & Casey Sangster, Caithness.

The Caithness pairing managed to knockout the other seeded Edinburgh duet in the semi and Lindsay & Kim triumphed over Orkney pairing Elaine & Moira.

Onto the final, and a nervy start by the Edinburgh girls allowed their opponents to streak to an early 5-0 lead.  This pressure was short lived though as the Caithness girls found themselves losing vital points and scrambling for possession on numerous occasions.

Lindsay and Kim seemed to be focused on the task in hand and didn't allow any 'peripheral annoyances' get to them - to secure the title in the second set with a few points to spare.

The Edinburgh girls commented to the eBiGH.com reporter/kiddie at the end of the match - 'Right, where's our eBiGH.com Frontpage Newsletter mention now, eh...???'. Time will tell..........

Carole & Casey v Lindsay & Kim

The Mixed Doubles final followed the seedings with Mark Mackay & Casey Sangster, Caithness up against number 1's, Keith Donald & Carolyn Young, Edinburgh.

Tiredness and fatigue had definitely set in on both sets of pairings after a hard and long days badminton - as long rallies were few and far between and winning direct points were the order of play.

The Caithness pairing were just infront of this contest, throughout and dually lifted the title in two sets.

Keith & Carolyn v Mark & Casey

A mention should be given to Big Bird and Pam Bain, Caithness for their excellent efforts in this event.  They managed to knockout two of the top Orkney pairings/seeds Onion & Christine and Moosh & Elspeth, Orkney to reach the semi-finals.

Congratulations to everyone who took part and thanks to Calv and Lynn Cursiter, as Calv mentioned in his speech - 'she beavered about all weekend...' - for their excellent organisation and keeping things in-line.

Glad to see the event continuing and hope it flourishes in the future.

Winners:-

• Ladies Singles - Carolyn Young
• Mens Singles - Mark Mackay
  • Plate - Abdul Mkith
• Ladies Doubles - Lindsay Robertson & Kim Atkinson
  • Plate - Laura Gray & Melanie Keith
• Mens Doubles - Graeme Keith & Jason Jamieson
  • Plate - Robbie Norquoy & Callum Flett
• Mixed Doubles - Mark Mackay & Casey Sangster
  • Plate - Ian Gorn & Kim Atkinson

Photos

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