Badminton: Focused Ireland ready to create history in European battle with Belgium

Irish badminton will write a standout chapter in its history today when the national team faces hosts Belgium in the European Mixed Team Championships at the Sportoase Leuven arena outside Brussels. 

This is the 23rd hosting of the continental competition but the first time that an Irish team has made it past the qualifying stage, thanks to victories over Slovakia, Norway and Bulgaria in their preliminary group at Baldoyle last November.

The Irish have been drawn in Group 2 of four along with the Belgians and England and will need to win one of those matches — each consisting of five games of men’s and women’s singles as well as men’s, women’s and mixed doubles — to claim a place in the quarter-finals.