Kirsty Gilmour was given a brutal reminder yesterday that time waits for no-one in top level sport when she was beaten in straight games by a girl six years her junior in the final of the Yonex Belgian Open.
Still only 21, Scotland’s best ever singles player had been looking to rebuild confidence after a tough few months playing top tier events by returning to the European circuit and was also looking to gather valuable ranking points towards defending her position at the top of the British rankings in the race for a place in next year’s Olympic team.
All the moreso because her world ranking has slipped markedly, from 16th to since she won her Commonwealth Games silver medal a year ago which meant that her run to the final in Leuven was important in terms of rebuilding competitive momentum as well as confidence.
However in the final she encountered the latest brilliant youngster to emerge from Asia as 15-year-old Malaysian Jin Wei Goh, who had negotiated the qualifying competition before sweeping through the main event to claim her first senior title by beating the Scot 21-15, 21-18 in 44 minutes.
While it was not the victory she had been looking for Gilmour drew encouragement from her overall performance in living up to her original status as second seed by reaching the final.
“I'm a little disappointed not to come away with a win as I thought I played well. She was very solid and I made some poor decisions at some crucial points, but onwards to the Czech in just over a week's time,” she said.
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