Robert Blair (badminton)

Robert Blair
Personal information
Country  Scotland
Born (1981-08-07) 7 August 1981
Scotland Edinburgh, Scotland
Height 6 ft 1 in
Handedness Right
Mixed & Men's doubles
Highest ranking 6 (in XD)
4 (in MD)
Current ranking 13 (in XD) (August 2014[1])
Medal record
Competitor for  Scotland
Commonwealth Games
2014 Glasgow Mixed doubles
Competitor for  England
World Championships
2006 Madrid Men's doubles
Commonwealth Games
2006 Melbourne Mixed team
2006 Melbourne Men's doubles
BWF profile

Robert Blair (born 7 August 1981 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish badminton player.

Blair was born in Scotland, but after attending Loughborough University in Leicestershire, he competed for England from 2001 until 2010, except at the Olympic Games, where Scotland and England are both parts of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team. His main motivation for changing nation was the prospect of medals at the Commonwealth Games.

On 16 December 2010 Badminton England and Badminton Scotland announced that Blair would be returning to Scotland.[2][3] The reason(s) for Blair's return to Scotland remain unclear, but reports suggest a falling-out with members of the Badminton England setup was central to the decision.[4][5][6]

Career

Blair competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in mixed doubles with partner Natalie Munt. They defeated Tadashi Ohtsuka and Shizuka Yamamoto of Japan in the first round but lost to Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa of Indonesia in the round of 16.

Blair reached the men's doubles final at the 2006 IBF World Championships together with Anthony Clark, losing the final against Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun.

Achievements

Mixed Doubles with Imogen Bankier

Year Tournament Venue Round
2014
2014 Spanish Open Spain Winner
2014 French International France Winner
2014 German Open Grand Prix Gold Germany Winner
2014 Caperio Swedish Masters Sweden Winner
2013
2013 Babolat Kharkov International Ukraine Winner
2013 Bulgarian International Bulgaria Winner
2013 Scottish Open Grand Prix Scotland Winner
2013 Carlton Irish Open Ireland Runner-up
2013 Yonex Belgian International Belgium Semifinal
2013 French International France Winner
2010
2010 German Open Grand Prix Gold Germany Runner-up
2008
2008 Denmark Open Super Series Denmark Semifinal
2007
2007 Scottish International Championships Scotland Winner
2007 Bitburger Open Germany Runner-up

Mixed Doubles with Gabrielle White

Year Tournament Venue Round
2011
2011 Malaysia Open Super Series Malaysia Semifinal
2011 German Open Grand Prix Gold Germany Winner

Mixed Doubles with Natalie Munt

Year Tournament Venue Round
2006
2006 Wilson Swiss Open Switzerland Runner-up
2004
2004 Djarum Indonesia Open Indonesia Runner-up
2003
2003 Spanish Open International Spain Winner
2002
2002 Scottish International Scotland Winner
2001
2001 Scottish Open International Scotland Winner
2001 Irish Open International Ireland Winner
2001 Bulgarian Open International Bulgaria Winner

Mixed Doubles with Jenny Wallwork

Year Tournament Venue Round
2006
2006 Big Boss Dutch Open Netherlands Winner

Mixed Doubles with Jillie Cooper

Year Tournament Venue Round
2012
2012 Babolat Bulgarian International Bulgaria Semifinal

Men's Doubles with Paul Van Rietvelde

Year Tournament Venue Result
2010
2010 Bank of Scotland International Badminton Championships Scotland Semifinal

Men's Doubles with Tan Bin Shen

Year Tournament Venue Result
2013
2013 Scottish Open Grand Prix Scotland Semifinal
2012
2012 Babolat Bulgarian International Bulgaria Winner
2012 Irish International Ireland Semifinal
2012 Turkiye International Turkey Winner

Men's Doubles with Craig Robertson

Year Tournament Venue Result
1998
1998 Open de Toulouse France Semifinal

Men's Doubles with Ian Palethorpe

Year Tournament Venue Result
2002
2002 Irish International Ireland Winner

Men's Doubles with David Lindley

Year Tournament Venue Result
2007
2007 Scottish International Championships Scotland Winner
2007 Bitburger Open Germany Runner-up

Men's Doubles with Russel Hogg

Year Tournament Venue Result
2000
2000 New Zealand International New Zealand Semifinal
2000 Slovenia International Slovenia Semifinal

Men's Doubles with Stephen Foster

Year Tournament Venue Result
2001
2001 Irish International Ireland Winner

Men's Doubles with Anthony Clark

Year Tournament Venue Result
2006
2006 Singapore Open Singapore Semifinal
2006 German Open Germany Runner-up
2005
2005 Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Badminon Championship Hong Kong Semifinal
2005 World Grand Prix Greece Winner

Men's Doubles with Simon Archer

Year Tournament Venue Result
2004
2004 Portuguese International Portugal Winner
2003
2003 Irish International Ireland Semifinal

Men's Doubles with James Anderson

Year Tournament Venue Result
2002
2002 Austrian International Austria Winner

Men's Doubles with Chris Adcock

Year Tournament Venue Result
2009
2009 German Open Germany Semifinal

Record against selected opponents

Mixed Doubles results with Gabrielle White against Super Series finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Badminton World Federation". bwfbadminton.org.
  2. ↑ "Blair returns to Scotland". badmintonengland.co.uk.
  3. ↑ Robert Returns to Scotland
  4. ↑ Blair returns home after fall-out with England
  5. ↑ "Badminton: Defector Robert Blair quits England and returns to Scotland". scotsman.com.
  6. ↑ There may be more to Blair's return to Scotland to train than meets the eye
  7. ↑ "tournamentsoftware.com". tournamentsoftware.com.

External links


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