Kirsty Gilmour

29 July 2024

Team GB’s Kirsty Gilmour flew straight out of the blocks to get her Olympic badminton campaign underway with a confident victory over Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatimah Azzahra.

Gilmour was made to wait for her opener in Paris, with Team GB teammates Ben Lane and Sean Vendy competing twice in the men’s doubles before the 30-year-old could take to the court, but she wasted no time with a swift victory on Monday.

The Scot stormed to an emphatic 21-13 21-11 win but later admitted the match was not one she could afford to take her time to settle into.

“I wasn’t easing myself in,” Gilmour said. “[Keisha] has got some really good skills, especially at the net.

“In the first set, I felt like I was on the good side to dominate. It was a bit faster going that way and my attack was more potent. We switched ends for the second set against the wind, so I had to step in.

“Once I got it right, she didn’t know what to do from the back line. I’m happy with it, we made a plan, we did the plan and won the game, so happy days.”

Despite asserting her dominance on court – and the fact this is Gilmour’s third Olympic appearance – the 30-year-old admitted she doesn’t feel immune from the gravity of the occasion.

“We’ve had a lot of challenges in preparation for this, mentally and how to pitch ourselves. We’ve worked through a lot of the emotions that might come up here in training,” she told BBC Sport.

“In that way I feel quite prepared, I feel like I’m able to get clarity through those horrible patches. Mentally I feel pretty prepared and physically good too.”

This training will no doubt prove pivotal as Gilmour’s next opponent in the pool stage is world number six He Bingjiao, who beat her in straight sets at the Indonesian Open just last month.

Bingjiao has winning momentum behind her as China’s men’s, women’s and mixed doubles teams have all enjoyed a perfect record in the competition so far, but victory for Gilmour would be a personal milestone.

A continuation of her winning form would see her progress from the group stage of the Olympics for the first time since her debut at the Games in Rio in 2016 and she is optimistic about her prospects.

She added: “I didn’t have a great performance when we last played. I had a low energy day, so I was fighting my way through that but we’ve had some really close matches in the past. I’m really looking forward to it.”

To this end Gilmour is not underestimating the physical and mental challenge of taking on a world-class player, but she is raring to take her thinking hat off and get the action underway.

“I had a stressful couple of days [before my first match]. I had been in the Village for about a week and I was stewing a little bit. It came to last night and I just couldn’t wait to play.

“I’d been theorising about it so much and I couldn’t wait to do it. I can’t wait to have the opportunity to play the world number six at an Olympics.

“It’s a major champs and crazy things can happen. I’m really excited.”

Recent posts