Robert Blair (badminton)

Robert Blair
Personal information
Born	August 7, 1981 (1981-08-07) Edinburgh, Scotland
Height	6 ft 1 in
Country	Scotland
Handedness	Right
Mixed & Men's doubles
Highest Ranking	6 (in XD) 4 (in MD)
Current Ranking	34 (in XD) 70 (in MD) (March, 2011)
Medal record Competitor for England Men's badminton World Championships Silver 2006 Madrid Men's doubles Commonwealth Games Silver 2006 Melbourne Mixed team Bronze 2006 Melbourne Men's doubles
BWF Profile

Robert Blair (born 7 August 1981 in Edinburgh) 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. 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.

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 Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun.

External links

• BWF Player Profile
• Badminton England Profile