WHILE she has been into racquet sports her whole life, it wasn’t badminton which initially caught Prestwick-born Ciara Torrance’s eye.

Ciara was originally an avid tennis player, competing on the courts of Scotland before discovering badminton and making the watershed transition.

And it was a decision that unequivocally paid off last week, competing in the Scottish Open mixed doubles competition alongside compatriot Alex Dunn.

But while the pairing went down 18-21 21-13 16-21 defeat to the Netherlands’ Ties Van Der Lecq and Debora Jille in the quarter-finals, Ciara showed no signs of regretting her earlier decision.

“I actually got into badminton through paying tennis - I played tennis and someone just said to me ‘why don’t you try badminton?’ and then something just struck in my head,” the 20-year-old said. “I decided to leave the tennis - I just find badminton a more enjoyable sport.

“You can make so many friends and it’s the social side of it that I love and that I find so exciting. Alex and I have only been playing together for a month or so - Alex didn’t have a mixed doubles partner, so it just made sense for us to play together,” she said.

Ciara has enjoyed a successful 2019, reaching the quarter-finals of the Irish Open women’s doubles alongside Julie MacPherson after reaching the last four of the Bulgarian Open with Eleanor O’Donnell from Beith in August.

“It would mean a lot to me to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games at Birmingham in 2022,” she added.