C’WEALTH GAMES R32 – Turner banishes Delhi Demon

There were many singles matches this morning, where all the seeds progressed, although some more easily than others. The results set up some interesting draws for the next round, but Turner of Wales was particularly happy to get rid of the monkey on her back from Delhi, as this time she beat Elena Johnson.

By Michael Burke, Badzine Correspondent, live from Glasgow.  Photos: Yohan Nonotte for Badmintonphoto (live).

Sixth seeded Kiwi Michelle Chan (pictured left) faced a long match, as she took 51 minutes to beat Rathnasiri of Sri Lanka and join her compatriot Anna Rankin (seeded 8). Speaking after the match, Chan spoke of a hard game.

“I saw the draw here and knew I had to be ready straight away. It’s sometimes nice to have a tough first round to get yourself moving and get your mind sorted.”

Narrowly missing out in the team competition was not a big disappointment for her, “We wanted to win for sure, but we walked away with our heads high. We left everything on the court. I’ve taken a lot of confidence from how I played.”

She will face Carissa Turner (pictured right) of Wales, who beat Elena Johnson (Guernsey), who ended her campaign in Delhi, which was not lost on her.

“I’m relieved. The situation overwhelmed me in Delhi and was a bit of a nightmare. I had flashbacks of that match but calmed myself down.”

Old England training partners Elizabeth Cann (now of Jersey) and Sarah Walker will play each other in the next round. Cann spoke of how she is getting back into the top level slowly.

“I was expecting to win so I just tried to up the quality of my performance. It’s taken a little while but I feel I’m starting to get back to match fitness, it’s been a long time since I played at this level.”

The Jersey player will be looking to improve on her performance against Walker in the team competition, but feels that her experience will count for a lot when it matters.

Kieran Merrilees was the first Scot through to the round of 16, with an easy victory over Kenyan Munga. He will face a sterner test in the next round, against Tony Murphy (pictured left) of Northern Ireland, who showed his fighting qualities to recover from a 21-11 first game loss.

Murphy is competing in all three available disciplines, although he later lost his mixed match. He said, “I’m just really trying to keep my speed up, it’s hard so I’m going to have a lot of good recovery sessions.”

Outside of competition time, Murphy is a full time tennis coach, but his focus is definitely on badminton. “I’ve basically given it up until after the games.”

Kirsty Gilmour (pictured right) absolutely demolished promising Australian Kessler, who appeared distracted on court, never quite getting into the game. The Scot will face Mauritian Yeldy Louison in the round of 16 who had a tough three game match against Camille of Seychelles.

She spoke after the match; “It was very close, because Alison, we meet at every tournament, around the Indian Ocean and Africa circuit, so it’s very tricky.”

“You don’t know what’s going to happen on the day, so concentration is very important – need to play every point and focus.”

The full results for the day can be found here.