AS Kirsty Gilmour watched televised coverage of last week’s action from the Olympic Stadium her enjoyment was heightened by the knowledge that her turn to savour a similar experience will be arriving soon.
“We have spent so much time saying how exciting it is to have the world championships coming to Glasgow and stuff, and now it’s dawning on me it’s the world champs... and it’s in Glasgow.,” said Gilmour of the August 21-27 event.
“That sounds silly, but having just watched the athletics and got so into it, I was thinking ‘that’s a world championships, oh I’m about to compete in a world champs’. It isn’t my first, but it is definitely different and definitely more special having it in Glasgow,” she said as she visited The Emirates Arena yesterday.
Gilmour has been named as the seventh of the official ambassadors for this event, but the only one who will be appearing on court. And she has experience of what it will be like after she claimed the last of the 53 medals secured by Scottish competitors at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow by reaching the final of the women’s singles three years ago.
This time is a little different, partly because she knows what to expect, but also because all of the attention is on her sport, literally making her the poster girl for the event as the highest world ranked Scot involved and the only one to be seeded in any of the five disciplines.
“I’ve been on posters for tournaments before but nothing quite like being plastered on the front of the Emirates Arena. It feels special,” she said, a touch of awe in her tone.
“That is one of those things that makes this tournament feel different from any other and another thing I’ll have to contend with. That little bit more attention. It is a new ball game having a world champs here.”
Well, after a fashion, no ball being involved in what is reckoned to be the fastest sport in the world with shuttlecocks capable of being hit at more than 200mph, but we all know what she meant by that.
While badminton is a hugely popular participation sport in the host country Gilmour is hoping that this event can boost its profile as an elite sport, one which draws the biggest television audiences in the world due to its popularity in Asia.
“I really hope that people in Glasgow, and people all over Scotland develop a new-found appreciation for badminton,” she observed “There will be people coming from China, from Denmark from all over the world to support their individual players here and I think Glasgow sports fans do that so well, collectively and relentlessly. They do not discriminate they just say ‘Oh, you’ve got Scotland on your back, I’m on your side’.
“I missed the Scottish Open in November with a knee injury so I was on the sidelines seeing the tournament from a different perspective, it’ll just be so nice to be on a court, doing my job properly, in front of a home crowd again. I can’t wait for again.”
That is what home advantage is all about but Gilmour is convinced that any spectators attending for the first time will be inspired.
“I know there’s going to be some coverage on TV and maybe highlights packages here and there, but I wouldn’t be doing my role as an ambassador properly if I didn’t encourage people to come and see it in the flesh,” she noted.
“It’s completely different, partly because of the atmosphere. However it is also because it has a reputation of being a back garden or church hall sport where you just pit-pat back and forth and for being prim and proper, whereas I can assure you it is neither of these things and the more noise in the hall the better for me personally.
“Competing in the Emirates Arena is not new to me, but competing in a world champs in the Emirates Arena definitely is.”
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