Magee marches on but Evans bows out

THERE were mixed fortunes for Irish duo Scott Evans and Chloe Magee at the Yonex Irish International championships at Lisburn yesterday as Evans bowed out to England’s Raj Ouseph but Magee defeated France’s Barbara Matias.

Evans raced away to a great 11-4 lead at the mid point of the opening set and he went on to take the opener by 21-9.

The Dundrum native was 11-4 to the good in the second set but lost his way and the cool Ouseph, recent winner of the Scottish International, hit back to bring the score back to 15-15 and went on to take the middle set 21-18.

Despite support from the home crowd, Evans could not raise his game and Ouseph went on to win the match 21-10 in the third set.

There was better luck for Magee as she strolled into an 11-4 lead at the mid point in the opener before going on to take that first set 21-12. The next set provided more of the same and she took the second set and the match 21-13.

Chloe later teamed up with her brother Sam to justify their No.1 seeding in the mixed competition, and came out on top in a tough opener against the French pairing of Gaetan Mittelheisser and Lorraine Baumann.

The Magee’s took the first set 21-14 and narrowly lost the second set 20-22. However, they re-focused to book their place in the quarter-finals by taking the third set 21-11.

Magee’s last match of the day was against Dutch player Judith Meulendijks but she lost the opening set 13-21. She bounced back to take the middle set 21-11 and went on to book her place in the quarters by winning the last set 21-11.