Elgin schoolboy Drew Murdoch was a triple trophy winner in Highland Badminton Group’s latest competition.
Murdoch entered the annual Scottish Badminton-sanctioned B-grade tourney at Inverness Royal Academy, which was split into two age groups at under-15 and under-19.
The event attracted 43 players from across Scotland and Murdoch was the star of the boys’ under-15 competition.
All singles competitions were split into groups with the leading players progressing to the play-offs.
Murdoch was seeded number two and defeated Aberdeen’s Aaditya Shah 21-6, 21-13 in the semi-finals.
In the final he faced top seed Kaliq Rafiddi from Glasgow, and after some great rallies, Murdoch claimed a 21-12, 21-19 victory.
The two singles finalists teamed up together in the boys’ doubles as top seeds.
They beat Caithness duo Angus Mackay and Rory Nicolson 21-11, 21-17 in the semis, and in the final they beat Orkney’s Murray Clark and Aberdeen’s Aayush Nagdeve 21-10, 21-4.
Murdoch’s quest for the treble saw him join forces with Western Isles player Isla Fraser in the mixed doubles.
Victory over Caithness pair Rory Nicolson and Ashlyn Gunn by a 21-12, 21-11 scoreline earned a place in the final against fellow Moray partnership Donald Coull and Isla Johnston.
A third trophy was on the way to Murdoch as he and Fraser won a great match 21-18, 21-18.
Elgin’s Callum McWhirter was involved in two finals in the under-19 competition.
The 15-year-old was narrowly beaten by older opponent Luca Iannetta (Dundee) 21-18, 22-24, 21-19 in the boys’ singles quarter-finals.
McWhirter and Glasgow’s Lucas Chin were involved in a round-robin boys’ doubles competition.
In the decisive game against top seeds Thomas Fragell (Aberdeen) and Sam Groundwater (Orkney), McWhirter and Chin lost 21-19, 23-25, 21-15 and had to settle for second place.
Alongside Chloe Mackenzie (Caithness) in the mixed doubles, McWhirter was again a runner-up.
The north pairing beat Orkney’s Sam and Jody Groundwater 21-16, 21-16 in the semis before losing 21-18, 21-18 to Fragell and Disha Nandish (Aberdeen) in the final.
Murdoch and Fragell both won three trophies in the event.
