Gilmour ready to get her serious head on

It was a good day for Kirsty Gilmour. She easily dispatched Finland’s Sonja Pekkola in the first round of the Scottish International Championship at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow and then discovered she had risen to a career high of No 49 in the world in women’s singles.

But, not content to rest on her laurels, the teenager spent the afternoon working with a sports psychologist just to make sure her head is in order for the prospect of two singles matches today.

Seeded seventh, it took Gilmour just 24 minutes to record a 21-8 21-9 victory over Pekkola and secure a place in the last 32, and she couldn’t have been any happier with her first test on 
the courts that will host the Commonwealth Games in less than two years’ time.

“This is by far the best Arena I’ve played in all year,” complimented the Bothwell 19-year-old, who has recently won tournaments in Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland to boost her world ranking. “It was fantastic out there today and I’m feeling very good.

“I’ve booked a session with psychologist Danielle Adams to make sure that all the off-court stuff is in order. When I was in Switzerland last month I missed a flight, broke my phone, lost a shoe, mislaid my room key and my emotions were all over the place. This week, I want to get into a good routine.”

Gilmour now meets England’s Georgina Bland, a straight-games winner over Scotland’s Kirstie Marisa Baird. A bonus is that her expected third-round opponent, Line Kjaersfeldt, lost her opening match. The Dane, seeded 12th this time round, knocked out Gilmour on her way to the final last year.

Routine isn’t something that is to familiar to Scottish men’s champion, Kieran Merrilees. Only 22, his career to date has been a bit of a roller-coaster, 
but yesterday the curve was 
decidedly upwards as he ousted Michael Lehnsteiner, the No 8 seed who represented Austria at the London Olympics.

Not that the unseeded Glasgow lad was over impressed by his own performance. “I think his seeding is a bit false and I hoped I would win,” he said. “I made a good start to the season but have had a few injuries so it’s been a bit stop and start.”

It was slightly disappointing that Gilmour and Merrilees were the only Scots to make the final 32 in the singles draws, but there was an encouraging turnout of badminton wannabes at the schools’ festivals run alongside the main event. Over 300 took part yesterday and Olympians Susan Egelstaff and Imogen Bankier were both on hand to offer some coaching tips and words of encouragement.