Rachael Darragh
Badminton
BIOGRAPHY
A niece of three-time Olympian Chloe Magee, Rachael moved to Badminton Ireland’s High Performance centre at 17 and actually flew to her first European Games in Baku in 2015 the day after completing her Leaving Cert.
During the previous Olympic cycle Rachael was juggling doubles & singles but since concentrating on the latter since 2023 she has jumped almost 100 places in the world rankings and broke into top 60 last Winter.
In 2022 she made the quarter-finals of the Commonwealth Games and the last 16 of the European Championships. In 2023 she moved up a level from the international challenge series to compete at World Tour Super 100/300 level. She made the last 32 of the 2023 World Championships and her career highlight so far was making the quarter-finals of the Abu Dhabi Masters last October which helped her clinch the 38th Olympic
BADMINTON NEWS
In the News – 9 March 2026
Hockey The Irish Men’s and women’s hockey teams qualify for the FIH World Cup, after competing in the Qualifiers tournament in Santiago, Chile. The Ireland Men’s Hockey Team closed out their FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers with a win over France to take top spot in the tournament. Having trailed by a goal, Ireland fought [...]
Badminton Ireland Development Project Receives International Support from IOC Olympic Solidarity
Badminton Ireland has received official approval and funding through the Development of National Sports System programme of the International Olympic Committee, delivered via Olympic Solidarity, in partnership with Team Ireland / Olympic Federation of Ireland. Following formal endorsement from the Badminton World Federation, the project has been awarded USD 70,000 to support the strengthening of [...]
THIRTY-FIVE ATHLETES ACROSS EIGHT SPORTS TO COMPETE AT EYOF SKOPJE
The Olympic Federation of Ireland has today named thirty-five athletes who will compete across eight sports in the Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) taking place later this month. The EYOF is the largest European multi-sport event for young athletes aged 14-17, typically held every two years. This year it takes place in Skopje, North [...]
Team Ireland EYOF Medallists 1991 – 2024
In the 24 years of Team Ireland competing at the European Youth Olympic Festival – Ireland has had significant success. There have been 72 medals won by Irish athletes in that time, and the most successful Games for Team Ireland was in Tibilisi in 2015, with a total of ten medals being spread across athletics [...]
Sport Events Coming up in July
We are at the start of a jam packed July, check here for information on the upcoming events? DATES EVENT (SPORT) 27 June – 6 July EQUESTRIAN Team Ireland – World Equestrian Festival CHIO Aachen – Aachen, Germany LINK 28-29 June ATHLETICS Team Ireland – European Athletics Team Championships Division 2 – Maribor, Slovenia LINK [...]
Team Ireland Weekend Highlights, April 12–13, 2025
From Augusta to Dublin, Belgium to the Basque Country, Irish athletes produced standout performances across a range of Olympic sports this weekend. Rory McIlroy Completes Career Grand Slam Rory McIlroy delivered a defining moment for Irish sport this weekend, winning the 2025 Masters Tournament and becoming just the sixth golfer in history — and [...]