The Shetland B inter-county team travelled down to Orkney at the weekend hoping to retain the silverware they won on a count back of sets won last year (Shetland won one set more than their Orkney rivals).

Shetland’s senior badminton team registered a landmark victory over Orkney at the weekend at Scalloway School games hall, with the 10-2 score bringing success for an unprecedented 25th successive year.

An understrength Shetland bad­minton team lost 11-1 to Caithness in the annual inter-county match in Thurso last week.

The Shetland senior badminton singles competition was held on Monday night. With this being scheduled after the open doubles event many of the senior players were feeling the pace and unfor­tunately three withdrew, leaving top seed Kevin Smith, coach Maurice Haining and five able juniors.

Yell A stayed in contention for the first division badminton title after a hard-fought win over Westside Bulls while in division two leaders Aith B and St Clement’s were both victorious.

The annual under-15 badminton inter-county match was played at Clickimin at the weekend with the outcome swinging in Orkney’s favour for the first time in recent years.

West Side Bulls triumphed over Whalsay A in badminton’s top flight while Whalsay’s B side overcame both Unst B and Burra in the second flight. St Clement’s, meanwhile, beat Sandwick in a hard fought match.

Yell moved ahead in division one of the badminton leagues after their opponents Whalsay conceded the points while in division two there were wins for Aith, Burra, Whalsay and Sandwick.

Shetland Badminton Association held the first of the annual tourna-ments at the weekend.
On Saturday the eight to 10-year-old half-court singles were held at the Scalloway Games Hall.

Yell B were no match for the isle’s A team in last week’s badminton matches, losing 9-0 in their division one clash, while in the second division there were wins for St Clements and Aith B over Burra and Whalsay B respectively.

A former Lerwick optician is suing his estranged wife and erstwhile business partner for more than £800,000, claiming that her actions after they went their separate ways six years ago effectively left him out of work.

New SIC chief executive Alistair Buchan came face to face with all councillors this week for the first time since taking up the post for what he described as “very positive” initial discussions about how to react to major criticisms in the Accounts Commission’s recent report on the local authority.

Multiple Grammy winner Steve Earle, the outspoken singer-song­writer responsible for a host of classic Americana songs including Copperhead Road, Guitar Town and Galway Girl, will be stopping off in Lerwick next Thursday for a re-arranged show at Clickimin.