Irish players were challenging for crucial Olympic qualification points in Ukraine at the weekend.
The Irish Team are riding high after the best Irish performances at the recent World Championships in London and were represented in Kharkov by Chloe and Sam Magee.
Seventh seed Chloe Magee from Ireland started the day off for Ireland with a fine win against M Pozdeeva (Russia) taking just 20 minutes and a score line of 21-11 21-9 to complete the game.
In the Mixed brother Sam and Chloe took on N Gennadiy/Y Kazarinova (Ukraine). The first set was nip and tuck with Sam and Chloe taking this one 25-23. In the 2nd set Sam & Chloe settled and won the set and the game 21-15.
In the second round Friday afternoon Chloe continued her winning streak by beating E Kosetskaya (Russia) 21- 10 21-10 giving Chloe a place in the quarter finals of this event.
In the quarter finals of the singles Saturday Chloe went down narrowly to Ukraine number one and the tournament third seed Larissa Griga losing 21-15 11-21 21-17.
In the mixed doubles quarter final the Irish pair of Sam and Chloe Magee lost to Singapore/Indonesian pair of Chrisnanta and Neo 7-21 7-21.
Badminton Ireland CEO Richard Vaughan commented “It is great to see the Irish players in the latter stages of yet another strong International Olympic qualification event. Chloe was very close to winning and I am sure Larissa would have been a difficult match in her home event. The mixed doubles result would be disappointing for the pair, but yet again you never know what you will get with the Singapore players as they are all migrating over from Indonesia, so it was a tough match. Again like the World Championship performances in London it is great to see Irish players involved in the latter stages of these events.”
To follow the latest the event, follow the Badminton Ireland website www.badmintonireland.com.
Note: Two players qualified for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and in addition to the two singles places Badminton Ireland are also targeting a mixed doubles pair that will not be an easy task as there are only 16 places and these will contain Continental representation.
