After 20 years, championships are moving to a new venue

Thursday 18 October 2012

Kirsty Gilmour got her first taste of the new Emirates Arena in Glasgow yesterday as she looked forward to the Scottish International Badminton Championships (November 21-25).

Custom byline text:

Elspeth Burnside

After 20 years at the Kelvin Hall, the third oldest Open tournament in world badminton is moving across the city to be the first major badminton event to be staged at the site of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The tickets for the championships went on sale yesterday with Gilmour, who has already won the Polish and Czech Opens this season, taking the chance to try out the courts with Glasgow twins, Christopher and Matthew Grimley.Just 12, the boys are too young to take part in the championships but they underlined their promise last weekend at the Danish Junior Cup in Greve. Christopher won the singles titles and the pair claimed the doubles in the Under-13 section.For Gilmour, pictured,a trip to the London Olympics as part of the Team GB Ambition Programme has acted as a huge inspiration. The 19-year-old is determined to be the British women's singles player at Rio 2016. "Going to the Olympics was the coolest few days of my life," said the world No.64-ranked Bothwell player. "It was a huge motivation to make me work even harder. This year, I hope to be seeded at the Scottish Championships."In her second year of a film- making and screenwriting degree at the University of the West of Scotland, Gilmour has had to go part-time to make room for her badminton. "I can't fit in the Friday module so it means I will have to spread my degree over at least one more year," she explained. "But now everything is geared towards the Commonwealth Games and then the Olympics in Brazil. Tomorrow, I'm off to the Swiss Open and then I also have the a tournament in Germany and a French club match before I'm back at Emirates Arena for the Scottish International."The three players had a guided tour of the arena with general manager Johnathan Shaw and Gilmour added: "I'm looking forward to playing in the championships again this year, but especially in this fabulous new arena. I reached the last 16 last year and the new venue gives me a real buzz."Chair of Glasgow Life and the executive member for the Commonwealth Games, Councillor Archie Graham, said: "The Emirates Arena is a world-class facility and its opening reaffirms our position as one of the world's leading sporting venues."We are excited at the prospect of welcoming the world's top players to the facility over the coming months and years starting with the Scottish International Badminton Championships. It promises to be an exciting new era for badminton in Glasgow and Scotland." Badmintonscotland chief executive Anne Smillie added: "This is a fantastic facility. It's something Glasgow and Scotland can be proud of and I'm excited to be staging the Scottish International Championships here next month."

Contextual targeting label:

Arts and Entertainment

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

After 20 years, championships are moving to a new venue

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED