BADMINTON: Chloe Magee proved best of the Irish at the European Badminton Championships where she reached the second round. Magee, who has already qualified for the Olympics, beat Laura Vana of Estonia in her opening match but then lost to Natalia Perminova of Russia after an epic 25-23 opening set that went to the Russian. In the mixed doubles, Magee paired up with brother Sam and faced
Sergey Lunev and Evgenia Dimova of Russia. They took the opener 21-19, but the Russians then powered their way to a 21-16 victory in the second and wrapped up the match 21-17 in the third.
In the men’s singles, Scott Evans went out in the opening round to Dmytro Zavadsky of Ukraine. Evans has still not nailed down a place at London 2012 and has only one more tournament to go.
Locally, Lisburn’s Tony Stephenson and Jennie King of Mount Pleasant and Leinster won the singles titles at the Leinster Spring Open played in Mount Pleasant Badminton Club, Ranelagh. In an all-Mount Pleasant women’s doubles final, Pauline and Fiona Glennon beat Jennie King and Keelin Hogan, while in the men’s doubles final, Tony Stephenson and Tony Murphy beat Mount Pleasant duo Dan Magee and Niall Tierney. Taking the mixed doubles title were Dan Magee and Fiona Glennon.
SQUASH: Madeline Perry, currently world ranked No 4, goes for her fifth title at the Cannon Kirk Irish Squash Open starting in Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club next Tuesday April 25.
Perry may not have it all her own way, with last year’s winner, 18-year-old Egyptian Nour el Tayeb back to defend her title. Also returning is New Zealand’s Jaclyn Hawkes, who lost to el Tayeb is last year’s epic final, and England’s Laura Massaro, currently at a career high of No 3 in the world. Sligo’s Aisling Blake will also play and has drawn el Tayeb in the opening round.
In the men’s draw, Arthur Gaskin from Carlow, fresh from his first ever challenger tournament victory in Doha, Qatar, has made the main draw. Top seed is Alister Walker, world No 18 from Botswana, with former winner Borja Golan from Spain at No 2.
Main draw action begins on Wednesday with finals on Saturday (4pm). Entry is free to all rounds and spectators welcome.
Junior teams for Home Internationals/European Championships: M13 – Luke Logan, Sean Dineen, Scott Gillanders, Ryan Kelly. W13 – Ellie Mc Veigh, Rachel Quigley, Victoria White. M15 – Philip Mc Sweeney, Oisin Dunne, Connor Mc Kee, Thomas Abraham, Paul O’Mahony. W15 – Stephanie Ryan, Sinead Walsh, Hanah Craig.
M17 – Oisin Logan, Ciaran Maher, Cillian Dunne. W17 – Breanne Flynn, Griffin Gillanders.
SNOOKER: Joe Delaney from Celbridge Snooker club was a surprise winner of snooker’s seventh senior ranking tournament at the Royal Snooker Club in Navan. Delaney overcame top seed Rodney Goggins from Wexford 4-1 in the semi-finals and went on to beat Robert Redmond 5-3 in an engrossing final. Redmond had put out the current Irish champion Jason Devanney in his semi-final.
With only the Irish Championships to go, it means Delaney moves into second place in the rankings behind Goggins. Brendan O’Donoghue of New Institute Nenagh is pushed back to third place with Vincent Muldoon of Maynooth fourth.
With only the Irish Championships to go, it means Delaney moves into second place in the rankings behind Goggins. Brendan O’Donoghue of New Institute Nenagh is pushed back to third place with Vincent Muldoon of Maynooth fourth.
WATERPOLO: Olympic champions champions Hungary and European champions Serbia lead the entry for a pre-Olympic men’s waterpolo tournament at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin from July 5-8. Great Britain, Montenegro, Croatia, and a further team to be announced will also take part in this warm-up tournament for London 2012.
Tickets from www.dublinwaterpolo2012.com.
ORIENTEERING: Irish champions Nicholas Simonin and Niamh O’Boyle will lead the Irish team at next month’s European Orienteeering Championships in Sweden. Also selected are David Healy, Hugh Cashell, Gerard Butler, Rosalind Hussey and Ciara Largey.
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