Scotland The Perfect Stage - 57

EventScotland Highlights 2 019 has been a big year for women’s sport, especially here in Scotland where the country has provided the perfect stage for six European and international women’s sporting events. Kicking off proceedings was the UEFA Women’s U19 European Championships (16 – 28 July), which took place across four professional Scottish football stadiums – St Johnstone FC (Perth), Stirling Albion FC, Partick Thistle FC (Glasgow) and St Mirren FC (Paisley). France were crowned winners, taking the title for the fifth time in their record tenth final, beating Germany in the final at St Mirren Park. The following week, Scotland played host to the Women’s Eurohockey Championship II (4 – 10 August) at the National Hockey Centre in Glasgow. Scotland, backed by a huge home support, won the Championship with a 2-1 victory over Italy along with promotion back to the top level of European hockey. Meanwhile, down at the Renaissance Club, Korea’s Mi Jung Hur captured her third LPGA Tour career title when she claimed victory at the 2019 Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open (8 – 11 August). Following three days of intense racing, American Leah Thomas from Team Bigla won the first-ever Women’s Tour of Scotland (9 – 11 August). She also claimed the Motorola Solutions Queen of the Sprints Jersey, while her teammates Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Nikola Noskvo took the EventScotland Queen of the Mountains Jersey and Deloitte Best Young Rider Jersey respectively. On the home front, Anna Shackley from Team Scotland took out the Best Scottish Rider Jersey. Scotland shines a spotlight on women’s sport ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup T20 Global Qualifier (31 August – 7 September) was next up. Taking place in Dundee and Angus, the event was the final global qualifier for the 2020 World Cup in Australia. Bangladesh were the eventual winners, beating Thailand by 70 runs in the final, with both teams claiming the final two places at next year’s tournament. The summer of women’s sport in Scotland culminated in the biggest event in women’s golf, The 2019 Solheim Cup (9 – 15 September), which saw Team Europe claim victory over Team USA in dramatic fashion at Gleneagles. In addition to hosting these six fantastic events, VisitScotland and EventScotland also gathered players from each event to celebrate this special summer of women’s sport and showcase Scotland as leading the way in the development and promotion of world-class women’s sporting events. Solheim Cup Team Europe Captain, Catriona Matthew, joined Scotland cricketer, Samantha Haggo, Women’s Tour of Scotland ambassador and Commonwealth, World and Olympic Cycling Champion, Katie Archibald, Scotland’s Hockey Vice Captain, Becky Ward, and Scotland Under 19’s football player, Michaela McAlonie for a media day to help shine a spotlight and build on the momentum shift behind women’s sport. This was followed up with activity across social media and video content in the lead up to each of the six events under the hashtag #sportingsisters . To watch the videos, visit youtube.com/VisitScotlandNews . @EventScotNews # perfectstage EventScotland eventscotland.org