Tuesday evening saw Team Ireland flagbearer Chloe Magee and partner Sam Magee secure a victory against Russia in their first event in the Mixed Doubles in Badminton at the European Games in Minsk. Rachael Darragh lost out to Hungary in the Women’s Singles, and in Boxing Kieran Molloy was beaten by Belarus in the Men’s Welterweight 69kg.
Badminton
Chloe and Sam Magee opened their European Games campaign with an impressive win against Russia today in the Mixed Doubles. The pair lost the opening game 16-21 and were down by six points at one stage in game two but rallied together to bring the match to a third game winning 21-19. The brother and sister then dominated the third game winning 21-15 with a fantastic showing to take the match win.
‘We’re feeling fantastic to win it because there was one stage it wasn’t looking very likely, but I’m proud that we kept fighting. In the third set we started to show some really good signs and will go into tomorrow looking to get our best performance out again.’
The Donegal duo now face France tomorrow morning who had a comfortable win over Belarus today.
In the Men’s Doubles Josh Magee and Paul Reynolds faced tough opposition in Great Britain’s 2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Medalists Christopher Langridge and Marcus Ellis. Great Britain took the win over two games 21-11, 21-13.
Rachael Darragh concluded the first day of the badminton group stages with a tough loss to Hungary’s Agnes Korosi. Korosi took the first game 21-11 but a gritty performance from Darragh in the second saw her almost take the match to a third game, drawing level at 18-18, then going ahead 20-19. Korosi rallied though, and eventually edged the win 22-20.
Boxing
Kieran Molloy bowed out of the 2019 European Olympic Games in Minsk this evening, after a tough 4-1 split decision loss against Yauheni Dauhaliavets of Belarus.
Fought out in front of a vocal home crowd support, Molloy faced tough opposition in the hard-hitting Belrussian, but put in a strong showing in the opening round. Some tough blows from Dauhaliavets followed, but again Molloy had a response, yet despite boxing well, he lost the bout on a 4-1 decision.
Speaking afterwards, his father Stephen said: “We’re very disappointed that he lost, we thought he had a good first round. The Belarusian kept tying him up though and pulling his head down. I thought he’d done enough to win the fight, he was scoring some good clean punches.
“You always want your own son to win, all the time, it’s tough, but we’ll regroup and get ready for the World Championships. Tokyo 2020 is still the plan and that won’t change.”
BOXING – EVENING RESULT:
Men’s Welterweight 69kg
Kieran Molloy (IRL) loses 4-1: 29-28, 27-30, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28
DAY FOUR EVENING SCHEDULE (IRISH TIME):
*Note the schedule may be subject to change *
07:00 Badminton – Chloe Magee & Sam Magee (IRL) Vs Delphine Delrue & Thom Gicquel (FRA) Mixed Doubles Group Round
07:00 Archery – Maeve Reidy (IRL) Women’s Recurve Individual Eliminations 1/32
07:52 Canoeing – Ronan Foley (IRL) Men’s K1 1000m Heat
11:00 Cycling – Ryan Mullen, Michael O’Loughlin (IRL) Men’s Time Trial
10:30 Badminton – Nhat Nguyen (IRL) Vs Pablo Adian (ESP) Men’s Singles Group Round
12:05 Canoeing – Jenny Egan (IRL) Women’s K1 1000m Heat 2
13:00 Boxing – James McGivern (IRL) Vs Hovhannes Bachkov (ARM) Men’s Light Welter -64kg
14:00 Badminton – Joshua Magee & Paul Reynolds (IRL) Vs France Men’s Doubles
15:40 Athletics – Ireland Quarter Final Match 2
16:30 Boxing – Regan Buckley (IRL) Vs Martin Molina Salvador (ESP) Men’s Light Welter -64kg
16:45 Boxing – Aoife O’Rourke (IRL) Vs Viktoryia Kebikava (BLR) Men’s Light Fly -49kg
17:45 Boxing – Michael Nevin (IRL) Vs Serhat Guler (TUR) Men’s Middle -75kg
17:50 Badminton – Rachael Darragh (IRL) Vs Yvonne Li (GER) Women’s Singles
