Early start for Merrilees today as rival eyes a quick exit

Published on Thursday 20 November 2008 21:42

SCOTTISH teenager Kieran Merrilees recovered from a tentative start to win his first round match at the Bank of Scotland International Badminton Championships and then received an indication that his last-32 match could be even easier.

First on court at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow yesterday, the youngster, who has been tipped for a very bright future by national coach Dan Travers, had an early wake-up call when he lost ten of the first 11 points to another promising young Scot in Longniddry's Paul Van Rietvelde.

But the Glasgow 19-year-old overcame the slow start to find his touch and managed to claim a straight games victory, 22-20 21-9. "I was a bit sluggish at first and I maybe under-estimated my opponent," Merrilees candidly assessed. "It also took me a while to get used to the hall."

Blagovest Kisyov now stands between Merrilees and a place in the final 16, but the Bulgarian's request to move today's match forward so that he has time to catch his flight home suggests he isn't too hopeful of victory.

"We were meant to be playing at 11:40am but I was quite happy to play at 10:15am to suit him," added Merrilees. "It certainly doesn't sound as though he is expecting to go through."

Bothwell's Kirsty Gilmour, the 15-year-old niece of Scottish international David Gilmour, showed her great promise by staging a terrific victory over Canada's Valerie St Jacques in the first round of the women's singles.

The Bank of Scotland Scottish Under-19 champion, Gilmour won a tight battle 21-19, 18-21, 21-17 and her reward is a last 32 tie against Croatia's Stasa Posnanovik. Scot Susan Hughes, the No2 seed, had a first-round bye.

Scottish champion Craig Goddard suffered a disappointing defeat. The East Kilbride student had two match-points in the second game before losing 21-13, 22-24, 19-21 to Poland's Michal Rogalski.

While former Scottish champion Gordon Thomson also exited – he showed his frustration by kicking a Bank of Scotland banner high into the air – Stephen McPhail and Kenneth Young were another two young Scots to advance to the second round. McPhail beat Canada's Phillipe Charron 21-11, 21-10 while Young had a tighter encounter before going through 21-19, 21-17 against England's Ben Stawski.