9 February, 2023
England successfully retained the McCoig Trophy in their annual match against Scotland at the Sir Craig Reedie Centre in Glasgow last month.
Held on January 17, the annual match was held to celebrate the legacy of Robert McCoig, widely considered Scotland’s greatest ever badminton player.
Before his retirement in 1976, McCoig represented Scotland 67 times and was later awarded an MBE for his services to Scottish badminton.
After he passed away in 1998, the Robert McCoig trophy was donated to Badminton Scotland by his family and the competition is now held every year for Masters players.
There were singles, doubles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles across age categories ranging from 40+ to 70+.
The English team selection was based on results from the English Masters National Championships, which were held in Hatfield last December.
Several familiar faces returned to the McCoig Trophy squad, with the team captained by Mike Nevett, while there were plenty of new faces taking part in the competition.
Alan Adkins, James Buckle, Paul Freeman, Ian Richardson, Brian Wheatley, James White, Simon White, Jenny Adrian, Jane Ashfold, Suzanne Brewer, Ursula Heale, Kerrie Kerins and Karen Thomas were all capped by England for the first time, playing key roles in the successful campaign.
The Scotland team were ahead after the singles rubbers, but England came back strongly in the doubles encounters and sealed a 22-11 triumph to successfully defend their title.
England were victorious in all but two of the age classifications, notably winning all five rubbers in the 60+ category and all four rubbers in the 70+ category.
There was a great camaraderie between all the players, and Nevett was presented the trophy by Badminton Scotland president Carolyn Young.
The McCoig Trophy will next be held in York in 2024. A full breakdown of all the results can be found here.
