Badminton players lose out to Caithness
An understrength Shetland badminton team lost 11-1 to Caithness in the annual inter-county match in Thurso last week.
With Caithness on home soil it was going to be a tough job for the Shetland players to hold on to the trophy this year as the team had been hit hard with injuries.
The match started well with Shetland women’s pair Julie Keith and Vaila Kay, playing in their first inter-county, taking the first game against Jane Grant and Michelle Cowie 21-14. They were very unlucky to lose 23-21 in the second, then Caithness took the third.
Next up were Kevin Robertson and Ramsay Hogg who was playing his first senior inter-county match. This was a great game with fast, hard hitting from both sides but it was Benji Mackay and Thomas Sutherland who came out on top.
Shetland then pulled a game back when Jason Jamieson and Ross Keith beat Sam Campbell and Martyn Cook in a very close two sets.
Annette Gear and Stephanie Keith Started well, taking the first game 26-24. But Pam Bain and Donna Majilton got on top and took second and third sets 21-17, 21-18.
Shona Keith and Kathleen Johnson was going to find it hard against the experienced partnership of Casey Sangster and Carole Mowat. The Caithness pair started well and held on to a good lead in the first set but in the second the Shetland pair were getting on top and were unlucky to lose 21-19.
Gordon and Graham Keith started well against James Henderson and Mark Mackay but the consistency of the Caithness pair carried them through in two sets.
After the break the Caithness were going into the mixed doubles with a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Vaila and Kevin gave Shetland hope when they won the first set of their game but Casey and Thomas pinched the second and took the third.
Graham and Kathleen also took a set of James and Pam but just could not get the advantage in the last set.
The partnerships worked well for Caithness, adding all the mixed games to their score and they concluded the match with 11 games out of 12.
