The Edinburgh Reporter October 2025

21

Picture:@t.short.photography

Holy Cross storm

to Div 4 triumph

Mo takes the honours as Leith get

their home campaign off in style

EDINBURGH BADMINTON evergreen
Christine Black has won gold medals in
three categories at the BWF World Senior
Championships in Pattaya, Thailand. In the
over-70s singles Christine defeated India’s J

Phillips 21-17, 21-7 and also partnered

Marjan Ridder from the Netherlands to the

women’s doubles title. Completing the slam,

Christine teamed up with fellow Scot Dan

Travers to win the over-65 mixed doubles

title with a three-set win over B Steenberg

(Denmark) and M Brzenznicka (Poland).

Christine said: “I have won world singles,

doubles and mixed in different age

categories but never a world treble. Only a

European treble. I am absolutely delighted

to win three golds especially in Asia where

playing conditions are always harder with

the humidity and also the drift in the hall

which really affects the flight of the shuttle.”

HOLY CROSS CRICKET

Club’s 1st XI have capped the

club’s 75th Anniversary year

by winning Division 4 of the

East League, almost 10

percentage points ahead of

their nearest rivals.

With 13 victories from their

15 completed matches Holy

Cross finished ahead of

Hawick & Wilton, completing

their season with a

comfortable seven-wicket win

at home to Dunfermline &

Carnegie 2s.

Captain Ross McLennan

thanked his side for their

collective efforts during “a

great season” and looked

forward to “more successes

next year.” Promotion for the

1st XI is part of a steady

recovery for the Arboretum

based club, which saw its

fortunes nosedive in the

previous decade. Meanwhile,

the Holy Cross 2nd XI,

captained by Robin Worsnop,

finished a creditable fourth in

Division 7.

Holy Cross will celebrate

their victory at an end of

season dinner and awards

night later in the Autumn.

Pictured are: Back row -

Nipun Mehta, Ben Reiss, Scott

Silver, Tom Clemens, Maan

Choudhary, Gus Venter, Varun

Jwalanaiah.

Front row - Abishik

Macherla, Parvath

Chinnathambi, Saurabh

Thakur, Amit Patel, Ross

McLennan (captain).

1st XI players missing from

photo call - Alex Tweedy,

Naresh Madiga, Simon

Moulds, Faiz Khan, Harry

Molins, Raghuvar Angrish,

Stephen Ditchfield.

n St SERFS TENNIS CLUB, Goldenacre, have held their annual

championships. The winner of the women’s singles was Anna

Bailey, while the men’s singles title went to Luke Murray. The

runners up were Grace Taylor and Jack Fisher.

n Captain James Stronach and bowler

Shreyas Tekale did their Carlton club

proud as Scotland won the under-17

Celtic cricket cup series against Ireland

in Belfast, three games to two.

In addition to leading the side

successfully James finished leading run

scorer over the series with 128 at an

average of 42.67.

Not to be outdone Shreyas was joint top

wicket taker overall with nine victims.

Christine hits triple gold at world senior badminton championships

Triple try No 8 Mo Batiuluna took

man-of-the-match honours as

Leith Rugby began their home

campaign in Division Two of the

East Regional Leagues with a 50-14

win over Royal High to follow up

an opening day success at

Penicuik.

Mo is one of four Fijians with

contacts in the military currently

playing for Leith and another,

second row Josese Rokotakala has

been quick to make his mark in a

debut season.

Coaching the Academy Park

outfit this season is Alex

McCutcheon, who says: “Leith

Rugby want to be a team

respected across Scottish rugby

and my philosophy is based on the

team being the best at the things

that require no talent, ie, effort,

honesty and togetherness.” Other

new faces include Scott Lawson

and Nicholas Bergeron.

McCutcheon added: “I want to

see Leith Rugby embedded further

in the local community as a club

that is progressive, organised, and

welcoming with a culture that is

resilient, socially strong, and

respected on and off the pitch.”