Billy Gilliland


Billy Gilliland is a former badminton player from Scotland who excelled from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s.

Career

Although he won the Scottish national singles title in 1979, the tall, angular Gilliland was a doubles specialist at the international level with his greatest success coming in mixed doubles. Gilliland won mixed doubles at the prestigious All-England Championships with England's Nora Perry in 1985. He had previously reached the All-England final in both men's doubles and mixed doubles in 1982. He was a mixed doubles bronze medalist at the 1977 IBF World Championships with Joanna Flockhart. Though he won numerous tournaments abroad, perhaps Gilliland's most impressive badminton accomplishment was sharing twelve consecutive Scottish national mixed doubles titles equally with two partners, between 1976 and 1987. With regular partner Dan Travers, he won nine Scottish national men's doubles titles during that period, and men's doubles at the Commonwealth Games in 1986. He now coaches badminton in
a badminton academy.

Achievements

World Games

Men's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
1981San Jose Civic Auditorium, California, United States Dan Travers Thomas Kihlström
Stefan Karlsson
15–10, 0–15, 9–15 Bronze

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.
Men's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
1984Dutch Open Dipak Tailor Michael Kjeldsen
Mark Christiansen
9–15, 15–7, 17–18 Runner-up
1984Canada Open Dan Travers Razif Sidek
Jalani Sidek
11–15, 9–15 Runner-up
1985Canada Open Dan Travers Jens Peter Nierhoff
Henrik Svarrer
12–15, 11–15 Runner-up
1985Scottish Open Dan Travers Michael Kjeldsen
Mark Christiansen
2–15, 4–15 Runner-up
1986Dutch Open Dan Travers He Xiangyang
Tang Hai
13–18, 9–15 Runner-up
1986Scottish Open Dan Travers Jesper Knudsen
Henrik Svarrer
10–15, 10–15 Runner-up