Chloe Magee today heads off to China for the World 2013 World Championships.
Representing Ireland at two Olympic Games Chloe Magee has had her fair share of up and downs, intense training and high pressured competition. As the first Irish woman ever to win a game at an Olympics Games, Beijing 2008, she is returning once again to China to compete at the World Championships taking place this month.
2012 was a very successful year for Magee with victories at home and abroad, some big performances on the circuit, as well as the London Olympics which of course Magee thinks was the highlight of her year.
‘The highlight for me last year was most definitely the Olympics. It was a long hard year qualifying for the games but thankfully for me quite a good one with good results along the way. But to be part of the biggest sporting event in the world was most definitely the highpoint. I feel as a whole it got everyone excited about the sport. I think it definitely raised the profile of the game in Ireland. Getting coverage of our matches on RTE give people a chance to see badminton played at a top level and hopefully made them want to try it themselves!’
‘We’re working hard every day with Dan Magee, the national coach at our training centre, Marino Institute of education, and have a good team working with us at the Irish Institute of Sport so I’m confident we’ll see those improvements!’
Magee and her brother Sam will compete in the mixed doubles taking on De Ruiter and Barning from the Netherlands and in the singles she is up against Ma Pai, Chinese Taipei. Magee reflects on the past season and sets her sights on Rio 2016.
‘Sam and I had a tough qualifying year, with only 16 pairs in the whole world qualifying; it was always going to be tough. I think we had some good wins and results along the way with winning the Norway International and Lithuania International. Results like this will only stand to our future as a mixed pair and we continue to set our sights on Rio 2016.’
Keep up to date with all the latest news from China on the Badminton Ireland Facebook and Twitter pages for results. The first doubles match takes place on Monday 5th August and Magee’s first singles game is on Tuesday 6th.
