Top action in annual Yell tournament
The Yell Badminton Club held its 20th open tournament at the weekend, starting with the singles event on Friday night sponsored by Graham Keith Plumbing Services.
In the women’s singles the first semi-final was between Carole Mowat from Caithness and Stephanie Keith with Carole winning 21-6, 21-7. Shona Keith then overcame Donna Majilton 21-9, 21-16.
The first game in the final between Shona and Carole Mowat from Caithness saw some good rallies. Carole fought hard but Shona took the game 21-15. The second game began point for point. Carole’s consistent play took her to 19-13 and although Shona evened the game to 19-19, Carole eventually took the set 22-20. In the third set Carole dominated and took the game and the title 21-8.
The first men’s singles semi-final was between Caithness’s Mark MacKay and Gordon Keith, Mark winning 21-11, 21-18. In the other half of the draw it was the same semi-finalists as last year with Graham Keith against Stuart Sineath, Graham going through 21-14, 21-13.
Mark and Graham’s final was a hard-hitting game from the start. Mark took the lead at 10-4 and despite some hard-fought rallies held the advantage and took the game 21-8. In the second game Graham battled hard with some superb rallies but the match belonged to Mark and he secured his victory 21-10.
The open doubles, sponsored by SNPC Ltd, started early on Saturday morning.
In the final of the women’s plate Michelle Cowie and Donna Majilton took on Julie Keith and Shona Keith in a very exciting game with Shona and Julie winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-16.
In the open women’s event the first semi-final saw Anne Wood and Diana Jamieson against Caithness pairing Casey Sangster and Carole Mowat, Anne and Diana winning 12-21, 21-11, 21-12. The other semi-final saw Morag Fox and Zoe Anderson take on Laura Guthrie and Karen Priest after playing a marathon game against Caithness pairing of Pam Bain and Jane Grant. Morag and Zoe won 21-9, 21-7.
In a closely-contested women’s final Zoe and Morag defeated Anne and Diana 21-17, 21-17.
The men’s plate final was an all Yell affair with Michael Guthrie and Arnold Brown against Lee Keith and Ross Keith, the Keiths taking a tight three setter 21-19, 17-21, 21-17.
In the men’s doubles semi-finals Jason Jamieson and Colin Grant beat the pairing of Mark MacKay and Sam Campbell in straight sets 21-17, 21-16. Graham Keith and Gordon Keith beat John Lowrie Irvine and Eric Henry 21-12, 21-8 in the other semi-final.
The final between last year’s winners Jason and Colin and veterans Graham and Gordon got off to an explosive start and produced the best rallies of the tournament. The twins eventually overpowered their opponents and took it 21-17.
Despite their best efforts in the second game Colin and Jason could not quite recover and Graham and Gordon made it their third Yell open title.
The mixed plate final saw Annette Gear and Arnold Brown against Tammie Fraser and David Sutherland with the well-established pairing of Annette and Arnold winning 21-12, 21-13.
The final event of the weekend was the mixed doubles and the first semi-final saw Anne Wood and Colin Grant take on father and daughter pairing of Shona Keith and Gordon Keith. Anne and Colin took the match 21-18, 10-21, 21-11. The other semi-final saw Audrey Leask and Graham Keith take on Casey Sangster and Mark MacKay and the Caithness pairing won 21-16, 21-8.
The final between Anne and Colin and Casey and Mark and saw superb play from all players. Casey and Mark took the first set 21-15 but Colin and Anne were not going to let the Caithness pair deny them their fifth title and played strong second and third sets to win 21-13, 21-15.
A spokesman said Yell Badminton Club would like to thank sponsors Graham Keith Plumbing and SNPC Ltd, the leisure centre staff, everyone who umpired the finals and all those who came to watch, the Mid Yell hall committee for the superb food and Matt Vinyl for the fantastic music which had everyone on the dance floor. Thanks also to the Caithness players for travelling up and Mark MacKay for a brilliant speech.
