Five East Lothian shuttlers were selected for the U14 Lothian team which headed south on the early morning train too test their skills at the extremely challenging U14 Yorkshire Open Badminton Tournament. Rachel Cameron, Musselburgh, was the only girl from the County as Cesca Lang, Longniddry, had been unable to accept her invitation. John Arbuckle, James Guckian, and Ross McFarlane, from North Berwick, plus Alastair Campbell, Dunbar were all representatives in the strong Lothian team.
Excitement, enthusiasm and a little apprehension filled the air as they headed for the York Railway Institute venue.
Rachel Cameron took it all in her stride as she won all her ‘Pool Games’ knocked out the No. 1 seed from Surrey 15-5, 15-5, and comfortably made her way to the final where she put paid to Middlesex’s Gauri Shidhaye hopes by trouncing her 15-3, 15-1, to lift the coveted Girls’ Singles Title.
Success exudes confidence and when Rachel joined forces with Lothian team-mate Naomi Branford in the Girls’ Doubles they were certainly up for whatever was flying at them. They took out the No.2 seeds from Lancashire in 2 sets then beat the No. 1 seeds from Surrey 15-8, 15-8, in the final giving Rachel her 2nd title of the day.
Meanwhile the boys were challenging effectively in their matches. Alastair Campbell won all his ‘Singles Pool’ matches to proceed to the ‘A’ event but was very unlucky to meet the No. 1 seed in the quarter finals and despite putting up a great fight he lost out in the third set. Not to be deterred he and James Guckian threw their hat in the ring in the Boys’ Doubles. They won all their ‘Pool Games’ and in the semi-final got revenge for Alastair’s Singles loss when they beat the No. 1 seeds from Cheshire 15-7, 15-10, to take their place in the final. They were up against the Welsh/English pair and after a fine 15-12, 15-7 victory this gave Alastair and James their first English title.
Three out of four titles returning to Lothian and won by East Lothian players is a tremendous boost to their morale. Great result for all the hard work put in by the players who had kept their nerve throughout a long tiring day of very challenging play!
