Yang Yang Sportsware review: The Blair switch project

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Blair switch project

Monday, January 24, 2011 - Badmintonphoto

Robert Blair is confident he has made the right decision to return to Scotland after nine years playing for England.

Born in Edinburgh, Blair, moved to England after attending Loughborough University in Leicestershire, he competed for England from 2001 until 2010, except at the Olympic Games, where Scotland and England are part of Britain. Robert Blair and Gabrielle White

However, several disputes within the English camp, made Blair decide to quit England and return to Scotland on Dec 16.

“It was not an easy decision but one I had to make for the sake of my career,” Blair, who turned 29 on Aug 7, told bwfbadminton.org during the PROTON Malaysia Open Superseries last week.

“I don’t really want to go into all the politics involve but suffice to say, I am a happier person now. I believe my decision to represent Scotland will help my career.”

In Kuala Lumpur, Blair teamed up with Indonesia’s Flandy Limpele in the men’s doubles and England’s Gabrielle White in the mixed doubles.

In the men’s doubles, Blair and Limpele were eliminated in the first round by Malaysia’s Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Hoon Thien How in three games.

However, he and White created waves in the mixed doubles as they reached the semi-finals from the qualifiers before losing to China’s fifth seeds Tao Jiaming-Tian Qing.

Their run to the OSIM BWF World Superseries tournament’s semi-final should see the British break into the top 100. They are currently ranked 116.

The Blair-White partnership is a new one but it is one the Scot is confident can go far. In fact, they wanted to form a partnership while Blair was still an England player but it never happened.

“The best moment of my career was winning a silver medal with Anthony Clark at the 2006 World Championships where we lost to China’s Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun,” said Blair, who picked up the game from his badminton coaching mum when he was just eight-years-old.

“Hopefully, I can create happier memories now that I’m back in Scotland.”

courtesy of BWF

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