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Kirsty Gilmour is the defending Scottish Open Champion in Women's Singles (Credit: Badminton Photo)
Scottish hopefuls desperate for success on home turf
Date: 11/19/2018 10:37 AM
Published by : Tom Hazlewood
The Scottish Open takes place this week, where some of the World’s top talents look to make their mark at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow. 

The BWF World Tour 100 event gets underway on Wednesday with a number of young Scottish players hopefuls looking to repeat the feat of Kirsty Gilmour’s Singles title from last year.

Scotland’s Matthew and Christopher Grimley are looking to build on their European Junior World Championships silver medal from earlier this year, with a strong showing in front of their home crowd. 

Two brothers eager for Doubles success 

The twins begin their campaign with an opening round against the unseeded pair of Richard Eidestedt (Sweden) and Peter Kaesbauer (Germany). 

- We know the opening game will be tough against an older and a more experienced pair, but we will try our best because we are desperate to get past the opening round and go as far as we can, Christopher Grimley said. 

- We have been performing well so far this year, so I am really looking forward to the tournament. We have been playing well in the Juniors and I hope that we can bring that form back home, Matthew Grimley added. 

The brothers are unseeded for the tournament, which relieves some pressure on them:

- It is always nice to play with Chris, especially in front of a home crowd, where the support is always so good and hopefully it will push us on for a good result, Matthew Grimley said. 

He and his brother are set for a bright future within the sport and are willing to do anything to reach their goals. 

- My future big goals are to compete at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2024 Olympics. Experiences like this are going to help me build to that, Christopher Grimley said. 

Carder looking to inspire in front of his home crowd

Matthew Carder is Scotland’s only player to have guaranteed a spot in the opening round of the tournament. The 25-year-old has been a regular figure in this tournament. 

- I think, this is one of the best tournaments in the calendar, you rarely get to play in front of so many people, especially when the majority is Scottish and cheering you on to win. It is a great experience and I love playing in it every year, he said. 

The 2016 Scottish National Champion sees this tournament as the opportunity to showcase the sport to his home country and hopes to inspire the home fans: 

- It gives younger people a chance to spectate badminton at such a high level, that they will not necessarily get to experience normally. This along with the various events held throughout the tournament really helps the overall growth of the sport in Scotland. 

Scotland’s Jack Christopher, Jack MacGregor, Ben Torrence and Christopher Grimley, who are all participating in Men’s Singles, will be hoping to get into the main draw by winning one of the eight spots available through the qualification stage. 

Scotland hopes

Elsewhere, Gilmour will be looking to reclaim her Women’s Singles title. The Scot is seeded third for the tournament, and faces England’s Georgina Bland in the opening round. 

Jack MacGregor and Ciar Pringle face a tough test in Men’s Doubles. when they face the number-one-seed, Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge, in their opening round match.

Whilst in the Women’s Doubles, Eleanor O’Donnell and Ciara Torrance also face an English pair in the opening round, they take on the unseeded pair of Evie Burbidge and Zoe King.
 
The Mixed Doubles pairs, Adam Hall/Julie Macpherson and Alexander Dunn/Eleanor O’Donnell will be looking to make the Scottish crowd proud. Hall and Macpherson take on Canada’s Nyl Yakura and Kristen Tsai in the opening round, while Dunn and O’Donnell will face one of the qualifiers. 

For the full seedings and draw, click here.
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