Ireland all but certain to advance to badminton QFs

Ireland all but assured themselves of a place in the quarter-finals of badminton’s European Mixed Team Championships yesterday with a 3-2 defeat of hosts Belgium at the Sportoase arena in Leuven near Brussels.

For Ireland, it was the perfect start to an event which has been run biannually since 1972, but one which they were gracing for the first ever time and the team gave itself the best possible start in the afternoon tie.

The sibling pair of Sam and Chloe Magee were first on court and their 21-10, 21-17 defeat of Nick Marcoen and Flore Vandenhoucke was complemented by Irish number one Scott Evans’ 21-13, 21-17 victory over Yuhan Tan.