Scottish badminton player Kirsty Gilmour (17, Bothwell) won the bronze medal this afternoon in the women’s singles at the Commonwealth Youth Games. The number two seed was up against Malaysian Li lian Yang, but played superbly to win 16-21, 20-22.

Kirsty played some incredible shots during the first set where she took control of the match. The second set was tight but it looked like Gilmour had won when; at 19-20, the Malaysian’s shot dropped near the baseline. It was close, but the shuttlecock was in leaving the pair tied at 20-20. The Scot showed great composure and played the next two points superbly, to come out on top 20-22 to take the bronze medal.
Coming off court Kirsty couldn’t contain her excitement. “I am on top of the world right now!”, she said. “I would have loved to be in the gold/silver match but I’m really happy with a bronze medal. I played really well out there today. To be classed up there with the top three seeds is where I want to be, and to be recognised as being as good as those guys is great.”

Having represented Team Scotland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Kirsty will be hoping to be amongst the medals in Glasgow come 2014. “That would be incredible”, she said. “Especially now as I’ve had a taste of it here”!

She continued: “I have a few senior European tournaments coming up so I’ll be looking to carry on from here and enjoy myself out there. I’m going to be playing with Jille (Cooper), who I was out with in Delhi when we go to the Czech Republic, so that will be a lot of fun.”