Badminton players from across the west coast descended on Oban for the Yonex & Scottish Sea Farms Oban Doubles (Grade C) competition last weekend.
Atlantis Leisure welcomed 42 players to its courts, with some travelling long distances from Aberdeen, Campbeltown and the Western Isles to take part in the Glasgow & North Strathclyde event on Saturday.
The Campbeltown, Lochaber and Oban Badminton Clubs were all strongly represented at the event, with Campbeltown’s Jane Scott and Nicole Thomson making it through to the semi-finals of the Women’s Doubles.
Oban Badminton Club’s Yvonne Clark and Denise Gemmel also progressed to the semi-finals were they lost out to the eventual winners.
After three rounds of group stages, the first final of the day came in the Women’s Doubles (A) category, with Carla MacKenzie (formerly of Oban) and Jenny Tones defeating Deborah Craig and Lynette Pollock 15-17, 15-13, 15-10.
Meanwhile, Rosemary Macintyre and Fiona Maclellan triumphed 15-12, 17-15 in the Women’s Doubles B final against Orla Anne Mcguire from Barra and Diacel Mitchell.
In the Men’s Doubles (A) final, Kumar Nagendra and Humayun Rashid ran out 15-13, 15-6 winners against Oban pair Andrew Simpson and Stephen Wilson.
This followed by a 15-7, 15-11 win for Andrew Campbell and Michael Dave Cole Solis in the (B) final against Kenneth Morrison and Murrie Brian Robertson.
Saturday afternoon then saw the Mixed Doubles face-off against each other, with Humayun Rashid and Carla Mackenzie defeating Oban’s Bruce Aitken and Fife’s Lynette Pollock 15-8, 16-14 in the Mixed Doubles A final.
In the final match up of the day Ben Murphy Denehy and Orla Anne Mcguire won the Mixed Doubles B category after a 15-11, 15-7 win against Jamie King and Louise Alex Andrew.
Overall, Oban Badminton Club had a strong turnout on Saturday, with Bruce Aitken, Yvonne Clark, Ben Denehy, Denise Gemmel, Callum Leitch, Craig Maccorquodale, Andrew Simpson, Stephen Wilson and Rosie Dreghorn representing the hosts.
Campbeltown were represented by Josh Arkell, Neil Littleson, Lauren Mackinnon, Ryan Mclachlan, Jane Scott and Nicole Thomson at the event.
Meanwhile, Lochaber Badminton Club’s Hanna Dougan, Mark Macmillan, Rosemary MacIntyre, Fiona Maclellan, Kenneth Mann, Richard Maclellan were also in action, with Barra represented by Paul Mcguire and Orla Mcguire.
Following the event, an Oban Badminton Club statement said: “We’d just like to say a few thank yous first on behalf of our players: please join us in extending our immense gratitude to the tournament officials and scorers – Ryan McCuaig, Alison Ferguson and Kerry-Anne Savage.
“Not forgetting Badminton Scotland’s own Jack McLean for his help behind the desk and on raffle duty. You’ll all agree that the tournament ran super smoothly.
“Thank you to Atlantis Sport and Leisure Oban for your warm welcome and assistance with the hall. Glasgow & North Strathclyde Badminton Group kindly dealt with the bureaucracy behind the scenes, and with the Tournament Software and sponsorship.
“We are grateful to the sponsors Scottish Sea Farms Ltd and to Mowi Scotland and Love Oban Local for their generous financial support and with presenting the prizes. To Ironside Racket Services a thankyou for frantically repairing rackets courtside to keep the players in top form.”