Badminton star Kirsty Gilmour lands second straight Euro silver

Selfie fan Kirsty Gilmour (left) has won a European Badminton Championships womens singles silver medal for the second consecutive year

Kirsty (23) lost Sunday’s final for the second year running to Olympic and double World champion Carolina Marin.

Gilmour had gone into the final saying she had a plan but sadly it wasn’t enough to win as Marin made it a hat-trick of European titles with a 21-14 21-12 victory in 43 minutes compared to last year’s 21-12 21-18 triumph.

Kirsty (23), women’s singles silver medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, said: “I never doubted it would be tough. I obviously had my plan and knew what to do but it is hard to stick to that all the way through her massive wave of power.

“I am disappointed about losing this match but still feel I have moved closer to her since last year’s final.

“I see small pockets of possibilities in her game. The challenge is to have and keep the discipline and physical strength throughout a full match to take advantage from those possibilities.

“In general I am satisfied with the tournament. I wasn’t sure I would be seeded at all but ended up seventh and in the opposite half from Marin.

“I am happy to have used that position the best possible way.”

There had been a moment of humour in the early stages of the medal ceremony as Gilmour celebrated on the podium with one of her favoured selfies, only to suddenly realise that Sabrina Jaquet had her medal and Kirsty had her bronze!

So Kirsty pulled it off the Swiss player’s neck, handed her the bronze and took her selfie.

Gilmour may be disappointed at not winning gold against a player who has only lost to her once in seven meetings but after her long lay-off following knee surgery she can be well satisfied with the progress she has made since returning to action at the Yonex Scottish Nationals in Perth in February.

Now Kirsty can look forward to spearheading Scotland’s team challenge at next month’s Sudirman Cup.