Robert Blair (badminton)

Robert Blair
Robert Blair
Personal information
Country	Scotland
Born	7 August 1981; Edinburgh, Scotland
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Handedness	Right
Mixed & men's doubles
Highest ranking	6 (in XD); 4 (in MD)
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing Scotland
Commonwealth Games
Representing England
World Championships
Sudirman Cup
European Mixed Team Championships
European Men's Team Championships
Commonwealth Games
	BWF profile

Robert Blair (born 7 August 1981) 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.[1][2] 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.[3][4][5]

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 Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng.

Achievements

World Championships

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain	Anthony Clark	Cai Yun Fu Haifeng	9–21, 13–21	Silver

Commonwealth Games

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia	Anthony Clark	Ashley Brehaut Travis Denney	21–6, 21–14	Bronze

Mixed doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland	Imogen Bankier	Chan Peng Soon Lai Pei Jing	21–17, 21–11	Bronze

European Championships

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Maaspoort, Den Bosch, Netherlands	Anthony Clark	Mathias Boe Carsten Mogensen	17–21, 21–11, 18–21	Bronze

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix was sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2005	Thessaloniki World Grand Prix	Anthony Clark	Michael Fuchs Roman Spitko	15–6, 15–9	Winner
2006	German Open	Anthony Clark	Jung Jae-sung Lee Yong-dae	11–15, 6–15	Runner-up
2007	Bitburger Open	David Lindley	Mathias Boe Carsten Mogensen	17–21, 15–21	Runner-up

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2004	Indonesia Open	Natalie Munt	Zhang Jun Gao Ling	9–15, 9–15	Runner-up
2005	Thessaloniki World Grand Prix	Natalie Munt	Anthony Clark Donna Kellogg	4–15, 15–6, 13–15	Runner-up
2006	Swiss Open	Natalie Munt	Nathan Robertson Gail Emms	17–14, 7–15, 2–15	Runner-up
2006	Dutch Open	Jenny Wallwork	Flandy Limpele Vita Marissa	21–18, 21–18	Winner
2007	Bitburger Open	Imogen Bankier	Kristof Hopp Birgit Overzier	17–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2010	German Open	Imogen Bankier	Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama Tse Ying Suet	5–15 retired	Runner-up
2011	German Open	Gabrielle White	Shintaro Ikeda Reiko Shiota	16–21, 21–16, 21–15	Winner
2013	Scottish Open	Imogen Bankier	Chris Langridge Heather Olver	21–16, 21–14	Winner
2014	German Open	Imogen Bankier	Ko Sung-hyun Kim Ha-na	21–15, 21–18	Winner
2014	Scottish Open	Imogen Bankier	Niclas Nøhr Sara Thygesen	21–18, 21–14	Winner

BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2000	New Zealand International	Russell Hogg	John Gordon Daniel Shirley	16–17, 7–15	Runner-up
2000	Irish International	Russell Hogg	Alastair Gatt Craig Robertson	15–12, 12–15, 5–15	Runner-up
2001	Irish International	Stephen Foster	Mike Beres Kyle Hunter	7–3, 7–3, 6–8, 8–7	Winner
2002	Austrian International	James Anderson	Peter Jeffrey Ian Palethorpe	7–2, 7–3, 7–5	Winner
2002	Irish International	Ian Palethorpe	Peter Jeffrey Julian Robertson	15–5, 14–17, 15–9	Winner
2004	Portugal International	Simon Archer	Liu Kwok Wa Albertus Susanto Njoto	15–9, 12–15, 15–7	Winner
2007	Scottish International	David Lindley	Vitalij Durkin Aleksandr Nikolaenko	21–18, 21–12	Winner
2012	Bulgarian International	Tan Bin Shen	Andreas Heinz Max Schwenger	18–21, 25–23, 21–18	Winner
2012	Turkey International	Tan Bin Shen	Magnus Sahlberg Mattias Wigardt	21–11, 21–15	Winner

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2001	Bulgarian International	Natalie Munt	Paul Trueman Liza Parker	4–7, 4–7, 7–2, –, –	Winner
2001	Scottish International	Natalie Munt	William Milroy Denyse Julien	8–6, 7–1, 8–6	Winner
2001	Irish International	Natalie Munt	Bo Rafn Helle Nielsen	7–4, 3–7, 7–1, 7–5	Winner
2002	Scottish International	Natalie Munt	Nikolai Zuyev Marina Yakusheva	6–11, 13–12, 11–9	Winner
2003	Spanish International	Natalie Munt	Jörgen Olsson Frida Andreasson	17–16, 15–10	Winner
2007	Scottish International	Imogen Bankier	Aleksandr Nikolaenko Nina Vislova	15–21, 22–20, 21–9	Winner
2013	French International	Imogen Bankier	Marcus Ellis Alyssa Lim	21–17, 21–17	Winner
2013	Kharkiv International	Imogen Bankier	Kim Astrup Maria Helsbøl	20–22, 21–9, 21–18	Winner
2013	Bulgarian International	Imogen Bankier	Robert Mateusiak Agnieszka Wojtkowska	21–17, 21–15	Winner
2013	Irish Open	Imogen Bankier	Jacco Arends Selena Piek	21–9, 19–21, 13–21	Runner-up
2014	Swedish Masters	Imogen Bankier	Peter Käsbauer Isabel Herttrich	24–22, 14–21, 21–16	Winner
2014	Orleans International	Imogen Bankier	Niclas Nøhr Sara Thygesen	21–13, 19–21, 21–18	Winner
2014	Spanish Open	Imogen Bankier	Robert Mateusiak Agnieszka Wojtkowska	21–13, 14–21, 21–16	Winner
2015	Swiss International	Pia Zebadiah Bernadet	Bodin Isara Savitree Amitrapai	18–21, 25–23, 21–18	Winner

BWF International Challenge tournament

BWF International Series/ European Circuit tournament

Record against selected opponents

Mixed Doubles results with Gabrielle White against Super Series finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists.[6]

Tao Jiaming & Tian Qing 0–1
Xu Chen & Ma Jin 0–3
Zhang Nan & Zhao Yunlei 0–1
Chen Hung-ling & Cheng Wen-hsing 0–1
Joachim Fischer Nielsen & Christinna Pedersen 0–1
Thomas Laybourn & Kamilla Rytter Juhl 0–1
Chris Adcock & Imogen Bankier 1–1
Tontowi Ahmad & Liliyana Natsir 0–2
Yoo Yeon-seong & Jang Ye-na 0–1
Ko Sung-hyun & Yoo Yeon-seong 2–1
Robert Mateusiak & Nadieżda Zięba 0–1
Songphon Anugritayawon & Kunchala Voravichitchaikul 2–1
Sudket Prapakamol & Saralee Thungthongkam 1–2

References

"Blair returns to Scotland". badmintonengland.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.
Robert Returns to Scotland
Blair returns home after fall-out with England
"Badminton: Defector Robert Blair quits England and returns to Scotland". The Scotsman.
There may be more to Blair's return to Scotland to train than meets the eye
"tournamentsoftware.com". tournamentsoftware.com.

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[1] "Blair returns to Scotland". badmintonengland.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.

[2] Robert Returns to Scotland

[3] Blair returns home after fall-out with England

[4] "Badminton: Defector Robert Blair quits England and returns to Scotland". The Scotsman.

[5] There may be more to Blair's return to Scotland to train than meets the eye

[6] "tournamentsoftware.com". tournamentsoftware.com.