BADMINTON: Irish No 1 may have gone out in the second round of the World Badminton Championships at Wembley in London, but he can hold his head high. After comfortably beating Austria’s Michael Lahateiner in in the opening round, Evans faced Chinese sporting legend Lin Dan, gold medal winner at the Beijing Olympic, and one of the most spectacular players the sport of badminton has ever seen.
Evans seized his chance and forced Lin Dan to play at his best before going down 15-21, 16-21 in a match that went on for 40 minutes. “It was another great experience and the crowd was fantastic. Nice to have all that support while playing the best player in the world. I fought till the end and felt like I played well,” said Evans afterwards.
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| Chloe and Scott Magee after their win in Lithuania |
Mixed brother and sister combination Chloe and Sam Magee had won a thrilling first round match after losing the first set against against French pairing Baptiste Carene and Laura Cloinet. Their rewards was a match against the No 2 seeds Tantowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir from Indonesia, which they lost in straight sets.
In the women’s singles, Chloe Magee went out in the second round to No 6 seed Saina Nehwal of India, while in the men’s doubles, Sam Magee and Tony Stepehenson lost to Chinese pair Biao Chai and Zhendong Guo. Last year, China won all five titles on offer.
CANOEING: After finishing 14th in the 500m at the European Championships, Salmon Leap’s Jenny Egan is hoping to make the B final at least at next week’s World Sprint Canoeing Championships in Szeged, Hungary.
“I’ve put in a hard block of training and have improved my time for 500m to 1 minutes 55 seconds, which I’m pleased about,” she says.
That put her about two seconds off a place in the final at the Europeans. In Hungary, the top eight will book their places for London 2012.”We will also have a chance to quality at next year’s European Championships, ” says Egan who earlier this summer took World Cup silver in the non-Olympic 5000m distance.
She will compete again at this distance next week, as well as in the 200m.
Also competing in Hungary is Neil Fleming, who goes in the K1 200m, 500m and 1000m and the K2 pairing of Seán Marchetti and Val Pierce. All three are members of Celbridge Paddlers.
* This year’s 51st Liffey Descent, originally planned for September 10, has been postponed until October 8 because of a 35-year low in water levels at Blessington reservoir.
HOCKEY: Glenanne’s Joe Brennan and Chris Cargo from Reading have been added to the Irish men’s hockey team for the EuroHockey Nations Championships in Monchengladbach, Germany starting on August 20. The Irish men, ranked 18th in the world, have drawn the world No 3 team Netherlands, as well as England and France in their pool. They face England in their opening match on Sunday August 21. The Irish women have an equally tough draw and open their campaign with a match against Germany ranked third in the world next Saturday. They also play England and Belgium.
RUGBY LEAGUE: Rugby league giants St Helens have signed young Irish Rugby League stars and Limerick natives Aaron McCloskey and Ian Cross after Rugby League Ireland’s inaugural Talent Identification Academy in Limerick last May.
McCloskey and Cross, who came from rugby unions before joining the Treaty City Titans league team, recently made their Ireland A debuts and will most likely feature for Ireland in the autumn internationals against Samoa and France in Thomond Park.
SQUASH: Ireland has drawn No 1 seeds England as well as host nation Germany and Spain in the pool stages of the WSF Men’s World Team Squash Championship starting in Paderborn, Germany on August 21. Making up the team are Arthur Gaskin, Derek Ryan, Stevie Richardson and Conor O’Hare, with a final squad training session taking place this weekend under the supervision of coach Hadrian Stiff.
TRIATHLON: Ireland’s Aileen Morrison finished a solid 18th at the Dextro Energy ITU World Championship Series triathlon in Hyde Park, London, which was also a London 2012 dress rehearsal.
In the men’s race, Gavin Noble looked on course for a high placing when he finished the 1500m swim just 20 seconds behind race leader Javier Gomez, but crashed on the cycle.
TUG OF WAR: Gortletteragh from Co Leitrim defeated favourites to win tug of war’s 600kg title, hosted by Ballinagh club in Co Cavan in front of a huge crowd. Cork team Glenhill won division 2, while the hosts Ballinagh defeated Cavan neighbours, Rockies in the final to win novice gold, also taking the youth league title.
In the final of the women’s 520kg competition, Boyneside from Co Offaly defeated Thatch Bar while Clonmines from Co Wexford won the U23 620kg competition
DARTS: Winner of the Dublin Darts Open in Loughlinstown was Connie Finnan from Limerick, who beat Northern Irish player Martin Carvill in the final.
In the youths’ competition, Ryan Maher beat fellow Dubliner John Seagrave.Dublin darts player Jacko Barry will line out in the Lakeside International play-offs at the end of the month. Also playing are Eugene McArdle in the Winmau Masters play-offs and John Seagrave in the boys and youths play-offs.
ROWING: After almost 40 years, Ireland won its first World Junior Rowing Championship medal when Holly Nixon took silver in the single sculls at Dorney Lake in England. Paul O’Donovan, who has another year at this level, was just .32 seconds off bronze in the men’s single scull.
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