Circuit

Gilmour revenge bid in Glasgow
Date: 11/13/2012 10:03 AM
Published by : Manuel Røsler

KIRSTY GILMOUR, the big home hope at the Scottish International Championships, is on course for a revenge clash with Denmark’s Line Kjaersfeldt next week after the draw was made by Badminton Europe today.

Seventh seed Gilmour will begin her title challenge next Thursday with a first-round clash against Finland’s Sonja Pekkola. If the 19-year-old comes through her opening two matches she is likely to face 12th seed Kjaersfeldt at the same last 16 stage as last year when she lost in three close games.

But since then Gilmour has climbed to the brink of the world’s top 50, helped by three international tournament wins already this season and now she has the chance to lead Scotland’s challenge at the first Scottish International Championships to be played at Glasgow’s new Emirates Arena after 20 years at the Kelvin Hall.

Scotland also have Rebekka Findlay, Kirstie Baird, Laura Muir, Kirsty McGlynn and Fiona Bain in the main draw of the women’s singles.

Kjaersfeldt is another player to have made an impact in the last 12 months following her runners-up spot in the women’s singles at last year’s Championships and her victory in the mixed doubles. But she has a new mixed partner in Mikkel Elbjorn this year and they must contest the qualifying rounds next Wednesday.

England’s Elizabeth Cann, who lost in the second round last year to Gilmour, is the only former champion in the 64-strong women’s singles main draw. The 10th seed and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist starts against Korea’s Min Ji Lee and is in the same quarter as Bulgaria’s top seed Petya Nedelcheva. Spain’s Carolina Marin is the second seed.

Nedelcheva starts against France’s Delphine Lansac and Marin meets India’s Trupti Murgunde.

Scotland’s top men’s singles player Kieran Merrilees will face a tough start against eighth seed Michael Lahnsteiner of Austria. Gordon Hoggan is Scotland’s other player in the main draw and he begins against Spain’s Ernesto Velazquez.

In-form Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei is the top seed after winning the Bitburger and Iceland titles over the last two weekends while Malaysia’s Chung Seang Tan is second seed in a strong men’s singles line-up. Anand Pawar of India, the 2010 champion, starts against Austria's Daniel Grassmueck.

In the men’s doubles Paul Van Rietvelde is fourth seed with English partner Marcus Ellis, who was runner-up last year with Peter Mills.

But the draw has been unkind to the Longniddry man as his first-round test is against team-mates Martin Campbell and Patrick MacHugh, the Iceland International runners-up last weekend.

Campbell’s brother Michael and Angus Gilmour meet England’s Peter Briggs and Harley Towler while Jamie Neill and Keith Turnbull await a pair from qualifying.

Germany’s Michael Fuchs and Oliver Roth are top seeds and are seeded to meet England’s Bitburger runners-up Mills and Chris Langridge in the final. Both pairs start with matches against qualifiers.

In the women’s doubles Gilmour is sixth seed with Jillie Cooper and they start against England’s Jenny Moore and Victoria Williams. Gilmour and Cooper are in the same half as last year’s runners-up Hui Ern Ng and Hui Lin Ng, the Malaysian sisters who are top seeds.

Yonemoto Koharu and Yuriko Miki are the No. 2 seeds and Japan also provide the seventh seeds in Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao in a line-up which has a real international flavour with entries from Korea and New Zealand as well as European nations.

In the mixed doubles Cooper and Robert Blair are sixth seeds and face a first-round test against England’s Chris Coles and Jessica Fletcher. If Blair and Cooper, who reached the semi-finals last year with Watson Briggs, live up to their seeding they can expect to meet Denmark’s Bitburger winners Anders Kristiansen and Julie Houmann in the last eight and England’s top seeds Ellis and Gabby White in the semi-finals.

The Championships starts next Wednesday (12 noon) with qualifying and such is the strength of the entry this year that many Scotland players will be in action as they try to earn a place in the main draw. The women’s doubles is the only event that does not require qualifying rounds.

A total of 296 players from 32 nations and all five continents have entered the first Scottish International Championships to be staged at the new Emirates Arena, which is the badminton venue for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Anne Smillie, Chief Executive of BADMINTONscotland, said: “I am delighted that we have attracted such a strong entry for this first Scottish International Championships to be held at the Emirates Arena. Obviously the players from Commonwealth countries have responded to us encouraging them to come and try out the new arena. The competition will be tough but I am sure the Scotland players will rise to the challenge.

“We are grateful to Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council and all our partners for helping us to stage these Championships in what is a new era for Scottish badminton after 20 marvellous years of staging the Championships at the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena.”

Tickets and further information available available at www.badmintonscotland.org.uk

A list of seeds is below

Men’s Singles
1 Chou Tien Chen (CHINESE TAIPEI)
2 Chun Seang Tan (MALAYSIA)
3 Pablo Abian (SPAIN)
4 Brice Leverdez (FRANCE)
5 Eric Pang (NETHERLANDS)
6 Yuhan Tan (BELGIUM)
7 Anand Pawar (INDIA)
8 Michael Lahnsteiner  (AUSTRIA)
9 Lukas Schmidt (GERMANY)
10 Kazumasa Sakai (JAPAN)
11 Kestutis Navickas (LITHUANIA)
12 Petr Koukal (CZECH REPUBLIC)
13 Jan Frohlich (CZECH REPUBLIC)
14 Matthieu Lo Ying Ping (FRANCE)
15 Rune Ulsing (DENMARK)
16 Toby Penty (ENGLAND)
                                          
Women’s Singles
1 Petya Nedelcheva (BULGARIA)
2 Carolina Marin (SPAIN)
3 Kristina Gavnholt (CZECH REPUBLIC)
4 Linda Zetchiri  (BULGARIA)
5 Sayaka Takahashi  (JAPAN)
6 Karin Schnaase  (GERMANY)
7 Kirsty Gilmour  (SCOTLAND)
8 Sashina Vignes Waran (FRANCE)
9 Karina Jorgensen (DENMARK)
10 Elizabeth Cann (ENGLAND)
11 Beatriz Corrales (SPAIN)
12 Line Kjaersfeldt  (DENMARK)
13 Nicola Cerfontyne (ENGLAND)
14 Olga Konon  (GERMANY)
15 Hashimoto Yui (JAPAN)
16 Sandra-Maria Jensen  (DENMARK)
                                          
Men’s Doubles
1 Michael Fuchs & Oliver Roth (GERMANY)
2 Chris Langridge & Peter Mills (ENGLAND)
3 Takeshi Kamura & Keigo Sonoda (JAPAN)
4 Marcus Ellis (ENGLAND) &  Paul Van Rietvelde (SCOTLAND)
5 Rasmus Bonde & Mads Conrad-Petersen (DENMARK)
6 Hiroyuki Saeki & Ryota Taohata (JAPAN)
7 Patrick Lundqvist & Jonathan Nordh (SWEDEN)
8 Ruud Bosch (NETHERLANDS) & Josche Zurwonne (GERMANY)

Women’s Doubles
1 Hui Ern Ng & Hui Lin Ng (MALAYSIA)
2 Yonemoto Koharu & Yuriko Miki (JAPAN)
3 Steffi Annys & Severine Corvilain (BELGIUM)
4 Lauren Smith & Gabrielle White (ENGLAND)
5 Heather Olver & Kate Robertshaw (ENGLAND)
6 Jillie Cooper  & Kirsty Gilmour (SCOTLAND)
7 Naoko Fukuman & Kurumi Yonao (JAPAN)
8 Lee So Hee & Shin Seung Chan  (KOREA)
      
Mixed Doubles
1 Marcus Ellis & Gabrielle White (ENGLAND)
2 Roman Zirnwald & Elisabeth Baldauf (AUSTRIA)             
3 Anders Kristiansen & Julie Houmann (DENMARK)
4 Takeshi Kamura & Yonemoto Koharu (JAPAN)
5 Chris Langridge & Heather Olver (ENGLAND)
6 Robert Blair & Jillie Cooper (SCOTLAND)
7 Michael Fuchs & Isabel Herttrich (GERMANY)
8 Max Schwenger & Carla Nelte (GERMANY)

Press release by BADMINTONscotland, Photo by Mark Phelan.

©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

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