BADMINTON
Badminton is the fastest racket sport in the world.
It became an official Olympic sport in Barcelona 1992. The competition in Tokyo 2020 will consist of men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
A match consists of best-of-three games, with the first player or pair to reach 21 points winning the game. If the score is 20-all, the side that gains a two-point lead wins that game. If the difference is less than two, the game continues until the two-point difference is achieved. If the score gets to 29-all, the side that reaches 30 first wins the game.
Sonya McGinn represented Team Ireland in Sydney 200 whilst Scott Evans and Chloe Magee are 3 time Olympics having competed in Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016
The National Governing body for Badminton is Badminton Ireland and the International federation is the Badminton World Federation where you can find more information
National Federation: Badminton Ireland
International Federation: Badminton World Federation
BADMINTON NEWS
Performance Round Up July 2026
Athletics LONDON DIAMOND LEAGUE Mark English delivered one of the finest performances of his career as he smashed his 800m personal best to finish second at the London Diamond League on Saturday. The Donegal athlete clocked a stunning 1:42.97, dipping below the 1:43 mark for the first time and becoming just the latest Irish athlete [...]
Irish Sailing and Rugby Sevens Shine in Action-Packed Weekend
Sailing McMahon Claims Sailing Bronze in California Eve McMahon secured a superb bronze medal at the Sailing Grand Slam event in San Pedro, California, after a composed performance in the Final Series against some of the world's best Olympic sailors. Racing took place in ideal conditions inside the bay, with 10–13 knots of breeze providing [...]
Events Coming Up in July
Athletics Eugene Diamond League - July 4th Cork City Sports - July 8th Morton Games - July 10th Monaco Diamond League - July 10th Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix - July 14th London Diamond League - July 18th National Senior Track and Field Championships - July 25th & 26th Badminton Japan Open World Tour 750 [...]
OFI Updates – June 2026
BADMINTON IRELAND SETS OUT PATHWAYS FOR DAKAR 2026, EUROPEAN GAMES 2027 & LA28 OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION To support athletes and coaches in planning for this cycle, Badminton Ireland, in partnership with the Olympic Federation of Ireland, has published its nomination policies for Dakar 2026, the European Games 2027, and LA28. Publishing these policies early provides clarity [...]
SELECTED ATHLETES
Scott Evans
BIOGRAPHY Scott Evans represented Ireland in the men's badminton singles at three Olympic Games - Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 - becoming the first Irishman to compete in Olympic badminton and, at Rio, the first Irishman to win an Olympic badminton match. From Dundrum in Dublin, Evans began playing badminton as a child [...]
Chloe Magee
BIOGRAPHY Chloe Magee represented Ireland in the women's badminton singles at three Olympic Games - Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 - becoming Ireland's most decorated female badminton player. At Beijing, aged 19, she became the first Irish woman ever to win an Olympic badminton match, defeating Estonia's Kati Tolmoff 18-21, 21-18, 21-19 in [...]
Sonya MCGinn
BIOGRAPHY Sonya McGinn represented Ireland in badminton at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, becoming the first Irish player to compete in badminton at the Summer Olympics. McGinn lost in the 2nd Round to Mia Audina of the Netherlands - a former Olympic silver medallist who had represented Indonesia at Atlanta 1996. McGinn won nine Irish [...]
Rachael Darragh
BIOGRAPHY Rachael Darragh represented Ireland in the women's badminton singles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, becoming the second member of her family to compete in Olympic badminton. She was drawn in a tough group alongside Olympic champion Carolina Marín of Spain and was eliminated in the group stage. From Raphoe, Co. Donegal, Darragh grew [...]
Nhat Nguyen
BIOGRAPHY Nhat was born in Vietnam and moved to Ireland, initially to Belturbet, when he was six. He won the European U17 title when he was 15, the same year as his first Irish senior title. He was a European junior bronze medallist in 2018 when he also made the quarter-finals of World Juniors and [...]