IRISH BADMINTON IN EUROPE 

Events 2003/04

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Against Wales, Scott Evans lost the opening match to Paul leToq.
Ireland's newcomer Chloe Magee's opponent in Ladies Singles was Wales' Harriet Johnson,  ranked 73 in the world of women's singles, recent finalist in the Brazilian International. After losing the first set 5-11, Chloe pulled off one of the greatest wins for Ireland in a recent years - winning the 2nd and 3rd sets 11-5 11-7. Irish Topping brothers Mark and Bruce lost the first set to Hughes and Lewis (recent winners of the Brazilian International), won the 2nd, but lost the 3rd.
So Wales were leading 2-1.
Ruth Kilkenny and Keelin Fox won a superb Ladies Doubles - 15-11, 15-13.
Donal and Karen won the deciding Mixed Doubles to give Ireland a great 3-2 win overall. Congrats to the team on this great win.
Detail Scores from the Triangular International Here

In the Bank of Scotland International Badminton Championships, some Irish faces appeared in the qualifying rounds gaining great international and high performance experience - these include   Scott Burnside, Andrew Stewart, Leslie Dewart, , Lee Evans, Bryan Henderson, Stephen Morrison, Gemma Richie, Donna Scott, Erin Kerry,

As well as some more regular international faces - Ruth Kilkenny, Alexander Sim, Brian Smyth, Scott Evans, Mark Topping, Bruce Topping, Huang (Karen) Bing, Donal O'Halloran. Ireland's most successful entry was the women's doubles pair Karen Bing and Ruth Kilkenny, who progressed to the 2nd Round (the last 16).
Karen and Donal in the Mixed Doubles first round lost in 3 sets to England's Roebuck and Wallwork - who went on to win the event. Karen and Donal were the only pair to take a set from them, on their path to the final.

Results Here
 

Irish badminton team Defeat group top seeds Belgium 
In what has turned out to be a Superb team performance by the Irish after the Helvetia Cup matches started so poorly, has seen the Irish as the only team in the group to defeat the group winners Belgium.
Ireland team was made up of Mark Topping, Bruce Topping, Ciaran D'Arcy & Scott Evans
Karen Bing, Fiona Glennon, Keelin Fox & Ruth Kilkenny, the format of each match, is 1 men's singles, 1 women's singles, 1 men's doubles, 1 women's doubles, and 1 mixed doubles. Ireland were drawn in a group with Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. There are 5 groups.

Ireland were slow out of the blocks in their opening Group match against a fancied Swiss side. Scott Evans lost the men's singles, 3 and 7. Keelin Fox, in the Women's singles started slowly losing the first set, but took the 2nd set to a tie-break, before painfully losing 11-13. The Topping brothers proved their ranking, defeating the Swiss pair 15-10, 15-11. Ruth and Keelin lost the Women's doubles, and Mark Topping and Fiona Glennon lost the Mixed, losing the 2nd set 13-15. So Ireland went down 1-4 to Switzerland in their morning Match on 19th. Perhaps on another day Ireland may have won the Mixed Doubles and the Women's Singles. 

Wednesday evening, Ireland played the seeded team of the group - Belgium. Scott scored an emphatic win in the singles 15-3, 15-3, Keelin Fox lost the Women's singles,  Keelin partnering  Ruth Kilkenny won a great Women's Doubles match  15-9, 15-4.  Bruce and Mark Topping again won 15-10, 15-8. Bruce played with Fiona Glennon in the Mixed Doubles, narrowly losing the first set 12-15, winning the 2nd 15-10, before running out of steam in the 3rd set losing 6-15. But Ireland scored a Huge 3-2 win over the favourites Belgium. 

Today Thursday 20th, Ireland played Italy, and won 4-1. Out of 3 matches, Ireland have defeated 2 of the group.
Ireland, Belgium and Switzerland each won 2 and lost 1 match, and unfortunately on games count, Ireland were beaten out of  1st and 2nd place in the group, and do not make it through to the quarter Final stage.. But overall a terrific performance, and the only team to defeat Belgium in the group. In fact if Ireland had won 1 more game against Switzerland, all 3 teams would have been tied for games, and each would have beaten the other, so I expect it would have gone down to sets to decide the group.
In hindsight, Ireland may have taken the Mixed Doubles against Belgium, and the Mixed Doubles and the Women's Singles against Switzerland -  if Ireland had taken 2 of these 3, Ireland would have topped the group, and if Ireland had won just 1 of these 3, Ireland would have tied with Switzerland and Belgium, and the group would have been decided on sets, who knows how that may have faired, but that's how close Ireland came to reaching the Quarter Final stages. Well Done to all players and mentors involved!

And it isn't over yet: Ireland is now in a playoff with the other four 3rd-place group finishers, these are  Hungary, Cyprus, Romania, Croatia
Hungary play Cyprus today, with Ireland due to play the winners, 
The winners of that match play the Playoff Final against winners of Croatia V Romania 

UPDATE 24 Jan
In the playoff placings group with Cyprus, Romania, Hungary and  Croatia, Hungary defeated Cyprus 3-1 in the only Quarter Final match.  
The Hungarian team were then to face Ireland in the Semi-Final.  It appears that the Hungarians conceded the Women's Doubles as it was not played, but the game was awarded to Ireland. First match to be played was the Mixed Doubles, resulting in a great 3-setter victory for Ireland's Bruce Topping and Fiona Glennon, losing the first 11-15, before winning the 2nd 15-4, and the deciding 3rd set 15-11. This was the recipe for Scott Evans who was next up with the Men's Singles against Hungary's best. Scott took the first 15-6, was caught 12-15 in the 2nd, before smashing into overdrive in the third, winning for Ireland 15-4, giving Ireland not just the men's singles victory, but concreting a 3-0 win  for  Ireland over Hungary. In the other Group placings Semi-Final, Croatia beat Romania 3-1. 
Croatia V Ireland - first match to be played was the Mixed Doubles, which saw a 2-set victory for Ireland's Bruce Topping and Fiona Glennon 15-10, 15-11. Croatia's Men's Singles player Vedran Ciganovic took the first set to 14-14, which set to 3 (first to 17), he won 17-16 over Ireland's Scott Evans.  Showing experience way past his youth Scott Evans tied the match, taking the second set 15-10, before also winning the 3rd 15-8.  This left Ireland with a 2-0 lead. Women's Singles Keelin Fox for Ireland won the first set 11-5, and the second at a closer 11-9, to secure Ireland the victory in that group over Croatia, and an 11th Overall finish. 
Ireland over the past week have defeated Italy, Belgium, Hungary and Croatia, losing only to Switzerland.  
Belgium, a team which Ireland beat in its group, went on to contest the overall Semi-Final, losing to Spain 2-3, the same margin by which Ireland had defeated Belgium. I think Ireland would have faired better than Belgium and would have taken the match against Spain.
Belgium ended up with 4th place. Spain in their final V Czech Republic lost 2-3. 
Again I think Ireland would have run Czech Republic very close, and may indeed have taken the overall Helvetia Cup, the Irish team and their overall performances and form were that good. 
It augurs well for the future, and at 11th place, many countries may not take notice of how close Ireland actually came to winning the entire Event. But we do see it, we have to be hopeful for the future. Well done to each and every player and squad member & mentor on the Irish team. 

We have all the results HERE for you

Swedish International Stockholm 2005
13 - 16 January 2005
Women's Singles
Claire Flood Irland 1 51993
Claire Flood won through to the last 16 of this Swedish International, defeating Lithuanian RICKUTE Rasa 11-0, 11-3, in the last 16, she lost out to Swede  Karin Hedin losing narrowly in the first 9-11, before losing 2-11 in the second. Well Done Claire on doing so well against such tough opposition.

40th Portuguese International Championships 6th - 9th January
Entered but withdrawn - Scott Evans, Brian Smyth, Alex Sim
Played: Claire Flood - lost singles to Welsh player Harriet Johnson in the 1/32 round. going quite close in the first set, losing just 7-11.
 http://www.cyprusbadminton.com 

As of the 16th December World Rankings , 
The results from the Italian International have not yet been included. It should bring Scott Evans and Brian Smyth up a few points in the World rankings to inside the top 90 Men's Doubles Pairs in the World today.
Scott Evans in Singles, before playing the Italian International, he had climbed to Ireland's highest ever Men's singles World rankings at 121. This beats Michael Watt's 122 ranking back in Sept '94.  When Scott's last-16 achievement from the Italian International is added, he may climb to 113th. 
After just 2 ranking events, Claire Flood and Shai Geffen move inside the top 200 of Mixed Doubles, while Karen Bing and Donal O'Halloran Mixed Doubles heights of 37th in the world have been hit by injury, and following the amount of events missed since September they have dropped to 77th in the world, but this is only with 5 events counting. Next Irish mixed doubles pairing is Brian Smyth and Catriona Farrell at 91st and Fiona Glennon and Neil Lynch at 136th. 
Claire Flood and (Karen) Huang Bing are Ireland's only representatives inside the top 150 of Women 's Singles. Karen has dropped out of the top 100 following her relatively recent injuries and non-activity on the international scene, her results from 2003 now not being counted.  The one bit of good news is that she is included in the Irish team for the Helvetia Cup in Cyprus next month, so let's hope she is on her way back to her best. We wish her well.
Ireland's Men's Doubles Brothers Mark and Bruce Topping remain inside the top 50 at 48th, Brain Smyth and Scott Evans at 90, are to be moved to 88 shortly. Their last 16 finish in the Italian international 'last year is to be replaced by a top 8 finish this week, - the ranking spans for 12 months only.
In Women's Doubles, both pairings Pauline & Fiona Glennon and Catriona Farrell with Fiona Glennon remain inside the World's top 200.

Helvetia Cup Team 
Cyprus from 19 to 23 January 2005

The Irish Team for the Helvetia Cup to be played in Cyprus is:
Mark Topping, Bruce Topping, Ciaran D'Arcy & Scott Evans
Karen Bing, Fiona Glennon, Keelin Fox & Ruth Kilkenny 
Ireland are drawn in a group with Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. 
http://www.cyprusbadminton.com/ 
Best of luck to all!
... 
from BUI website, www.badmintonireland.com 
A few Irish were down to play in the Portuguese international at the start of January, but it appears that they have withdrawn from the event. The Swedish international 13-16 Jan has Alex Sim and Claire Flood.

Scott Evans and Claire Flood for Ireland in  Italian badminton International
 The Irish have been in action in the Welsh International and the Irish international in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, ( www.badmintonireland.com ) in the past 2 weeks. and his week our focus is on Scott Evans competing in the Singles and Men's Doubles in the Italian Internaio0nal in Rome, while Claire Flood competes in the Women's Singles and Mixed Doubles. Best of luck to you both, and if you are in Rome this week, come out and support these 2 young Irish Sportstars. Keep track of their progress, go the the calendar at  www.worldbadminton.net 

Scotch Quarter for Mark and Bruce (badminton) 

Scottish Quarter Final in Men's Doubles - Topping Brothers
Scottish International: Irish Results:
6 Irish entered Men's Singles : 
Ciaran Darcy did not play
Niall Tierney did not play
Scott Evans, In Main Draw, lost narrowly to Craig Goddard (Sco) 17-15, 15-5, a repeat encounter of the Bulgarian International in September and a similarly close result.
Lee Evans , lost to Graham Simpson (Sco) in Qual 6-15, 7-15
Alex Sim, beat Kenneth Young (Sco) 15-5, 15-8 in Qual, but lost to Hugi Heimersson (Swe) 4-15, 3-15
Bryan Henderson lost to Gordon Thomson (Sco) 15-11, 15-1 in Qualifier

1 in Womens Singles: Claire Flood 
in main Draw, lost to Linda Sloan (Sco)

4 in Mens Doubles:
Bruce Topping & Mark Topping defeated Henri Hurskainen/Mattias Wigardt (Swe) to qualiify for the Quarter Final, but lost a place in the Semi's in straight sets to England's Steve Foster/Carl Goode
Scott Evans & Brian Smyth met eventual Semi-Finalists from Indonesia Rupesh Kumar/Thomas Sanave (Ind), and lost in straight sets.
Ciaran Darcy & Neil Lynch Did not play
Lee Evans & Bryan Henderson Qualifier, lost to Craig Lamb/Mark Mackay (Sco) 6-15, 10-15

WOMENS DOUBLES: Fiona and Pauline Glennon no Qualifiers for this event, 
played one of the top seeds Caren Hueckstaedt/Carina Mette (Ger) for a place in the QF, but lost out scoring 9 and 7 points.
Claire Flood again stood in a a sub and played with Reeta Heino (Fin), but lost their second round match to eventual Finalists *Hooi Yee Chor/Pek Siah Lim (Mas)

Mixed D: 3 Irish pairs:
All in the Main Draw:

Brian Smyth (IRL-1) 15198 seeded, through to rd2, but lost to Michael Fuchs/Caren Hueckstaedt (Ger) 15/5 15/12
Caitriona Farrell 15209 

Neil Lynch (IRL-2) 12977 
Fiona Glennon 12978 were seeded and though to round 2, but lost to Canadians  15/3 15/4

Mark Topping (IRL-3) 3515 
Pauline Glennon lost to Tim Dettmann/Michaela Peiffer (Ger) in Round 1. 15/4 15/7

GAA in Madrid.
Irish Golf, Rugby,  Badminton, Boxing and Bobsleigh stories from Europe
...
For details and websites for each event check  European Irish Events Calendar  Sport 

Irish Badminton
Since the last update from the superb successes of the Irish at the Cyprus International.
The Irish have been playing in the Norway and Hungary. And next week The Scottish international sees a huge Irish entry.
I believe that there were no Irish entries in the Iceland Express.

Claire Flood reaches Women's Doubles Quarter Final in Hungary
In Hungary, 28-31 Oct, Ireland had 4 players, 
Scott IRL Ireland 
SIMM Alexander IRL Ireland 
SMYTH Brian IRL Ireland 
FLOOD Claire IRL Ireland 

 Scott Evans and Alex Simms played in the Men's Singles, 
In the qualifiers, Scott defeated Austrian, TROJAN Michael, in 3 sets, and English Neil White to earn the first Qualifier spot to the main draw 9-15, 15-11, 15-11.
no. 2 seed Canadian MILROY Bobby, defeated Scott 15-10, 15-3. A superb display by Scott against the eventual Winner of the Event.
Alex lost to TURZÓ Balázs of Hungary, but gained great Senior Experience here.

In Women's Singles, Claire defeated KOVÁCS Dóra of Hungary, in a tough 11-8, 11-7 win, to qualify to the main Draw.
In the main draw Claire lost to fancied MAYER Claudia of Austria.

Brian and Scott lost 15-10, 15-10 to a Russian pair in the Men's Doubles, 

The Highlight of the Irish team's play came in the Women's Doubles, when Claire Flood stood in as a sub, and played with Slovenian FINK Mateja, and reached the Quarter Finals, defeating a favourite pair from the Host nation, on the way. 

http://www.badminton.hu/intern/2004/draws-schedule2004.htm 

In Norway, 4-7 Nov, 
Ciaran Darcy played Singles and was down to play doubles with Neil Lynch
In Singles, following a Qualifier bye, he played against German Rob GEORG.
Ciaran lost the first set 12-15, won the second 15-9, but then I see that the 3rd set went 0-15.
And gave a walkover in the Mens Doubles match, so I suspect Ciaran may have got injured in the Singles, forced to concede the 3rd set, and pull out of the men's Doubles. 
This is a guess though.

http://www.badminton.no/ NIC%202004/FinalresultsNorwegianInternational2004.htm 

Although not technically Continental Europe, you may be interested in the following: 
In Glasgow next week, 25-28 NOVEMBER 2004
one of Ireland's largest ever travelling contingent plays in the 5 Scottish International Events, 
6 in men's Singles : 
Ciaran Darcy, Niall Tierney, Scott Evans, Lee Evans, Alex Sim, Bryan Henderson 
1 in Womens Singles: Claire Flood 
4 in mens Doubles:
Bruce Topping & Mark Topping 
Scott Evans & Brian Smyth 
Ciaran Darcy & Neil Lynch 
Lee Evans & Bryan Henderson 
wOMENS DOUBLES: Fiona and Pauline Glennon
Mixed D: 3 irish pairs:
Brian Smyth (IRL-1) 15198 
Caitriona Farrell 15209 
Neil Lynch (IRL-2) 12977 
Fiona Glennon 12978 
Mark Topping (IRL-3) 3515 
Pauline Glennon 
http://www.scotbadminton.demon.co.uk/sicforms04.htm 

The Triangular Series will be played on 1st December in Cardiff, Wales. This is an annual event played between the three nations and has run for many years. The “Jim Mailer trophy” has only on two occasions been won by Ireland (1999/2000) in recent years and is currently in the hands of the Scots. 
Bad news is that Donal O´Halloran and Karen Bing are out at the moment due to long term injuries. 
Karen is ranked close to top-50 in the World of Women's Singles, while together they have been at 37th in Mixed doubles.
The following squad is selected to represent Ireland in the upcoming Triangular Series against Scotland and Wales.Ciaran D’Arcy 
Bruce Topping 
Mark Topping 
Scott Evans 
Keelin Fox 
Ruth Kilkenny 
Erin Keery 
Fiona Glennon
http://www.badmintonireland.com/ 


What is the highest any Irish player/s in doubles and singles have been in the world does any 1 know?
A bit of trivia...(a month ago)

IN Mens Singles, 
Scott Evans was our present leader at 254th in World Rankings.
Michael Watt was at 122 in Sep '94. Ireland may have had higher, but I haven't found it.

Womens Singles: Karen (Huang) Bing at 57th was I think our highest, achieved earlier this year, currently at 58th.

Mark & Bruce Topping are Ireland's Mens Doubles outright leaders ever, at 48th at the moment.
Interestingly, Bruce Topping and Graham Henderson were at 150th almost 10 years ago - Nov '94. Partnering Michael O'Meara Bruce climbed to 117 in the Mens Doubles in May '95, 104th by Jan '96, and 65th in July '96.

Karen Bing and Donal O'Halloran were at 37th earlier in the year, now at 38th in Mixed Doubles Rankings.

Women's Doubles, currently Pauline & Fiona Glennon are just outside the top 100, at 107.
Historically, when the rankings started in September '94, Ireland's Ann Stephens and Jayne Plunkett were at 42 in the World. A year later they had fallen outside the top 150.
Having climbed the World Rankings, Ireland's best Women's Doubles pair have been Sonya McGinn and Keelin Fox (Triple winner Autumn Open), in Jan '97 were at 133, by Sep '98 were at 71, before climbing inside the world's top 50, by December of the same year. 12th January '99 they reached their highest ranking of 48th in the World.

Who remembers Tom Reidy or Thomas Reidy? Grew up in Limerick, Played in the '92 Olympics for USA. I remember him winning the Munster U18's Singles, aged 14.

Anyway, The current World rankings only go back to 1994. He would have been at his peak before that. In May '95 he was ranked 97th Singles - in the world.
In September of that same year, partnering Kevin Han of USA, he was ranked 36th in the world of Men's Doubles.


European Irish Events Calendar  Sport  Culture  Music

Irish badminton Dominate in Europe ...Again!  Mark & Bruce Topping V Brian Smyth & Scott Evans
Just six weeks after a historic all-Ireland final on the European badminton circuit, the pairs faced each other across the net in another tremendous final, this time in Cyprus. 

... report from Brian Smyth, BUI,
 http://www.badmintonireland.com/news_article.asp?RecID=18 
Read also how 2 other Irish made the Semi-Finals,
Ireland's Brian Smyth (with Israel's Olga SHITIKOV) and Claire Flood partnering Israel's GEFFEN Shai.

Men's Singles: In a draw of 64, with his recent improved World ranking, Scott Evans had a bye in Round 1, and met local PETROU Iacovos in the last 32, Scott winning well 15-2, 15-11, 
Through to the last 16 was a remarkable achievement for Scott, but when he defeated Greek VELKOS Theodoros to make the Quarter Finals, he had marked another notch in Scott Evans achievements in a world event of Men's Single.
He lost the Quarter Final to top seed VASCONCELOS of Portugal, but can hold his head high. It's been a long time since an Irish man went so far in International Singles.

In Women's Single Claire Flood received a walkover in the last 16 round, and was unfortunate to meet the eventual finalist in her Quarter Final match.

Both Irish men's Doubles pairs received byes in Round 1, based off their current ranking ansd recent good form. 
Brian smyth and Scott Evans defeated a Cypriot pair in round 2, progressing to the Quarter final, in which they defeated another 
Cypriot pair - IASONOS Savvinos & PISSIS Nicolas, winning 15-4, 15-8. So they were through to the Semi-Final.
Was their fate doomed as they were to face the top seeds Greek pair VELKOS Theodoros (GRE) & PATIS Geogre (GRE). 
Scott had already defeated VELKOS Theodoros in the singles so the confidence was high and it showed, as they defeated the tournament favourites 15-5, 15-6 to qualfy for the Final.
mark and Bruce topping in the other half of the draw, started inthe last 16 with a win over a Cyprus par 15-1, 15-1.
They met the Portugues pair 3022 VASCONCELOS Marco (POR) & SANTOS Nuno who had also won 15-1, and 1 in their first match. And Marco was a Singles finalist.
When the Toppings won 15-7, 15-1 they progressed to the Semi-Final where they met 12791 YUSIM Nir (ISR) & KROITOR Lior-Boris (ISR). 
The Irish Pair won their Semi-Final 15-9, 15-5 to complete another all-Irish Final pairing.
Brian Smyth described the rest above.

Claire Flood partnered Cypriot HADJIYANGOU Demetra in Women's Doubles, losing the Quarter Final 14-15, 8-15

Ireland's Brian Smyth (with Isreal's Olga SHITIKOV) and Claire Flood partnering isreal's GEFFEN Shai
Each made it through to the Semi-Final stage of the Mixed Doubles.

All details are here: http://www.geocities.com/mik_bad/finalresults.XLS 

Next the Irish contingent are heading for Hungary where we follow with anticipation.
28-31 October the 29th VICTOR Hungarian International will see Alex Simm and Scott Evans competing in Men's Singles, in Women's Singles Ireland will be represented by Claire Flood. Recent Runners-up pair Brian Smyth and Scott Evans renew their partnership in the Men's Doubles.
A few Irish are also heading to play in the Iceland Express International at Reykjavik on 10-14th November.  Details of this next week.

 www.badmintonireland.com 

In Men's Doubles, Ireland's Topping Brothers had a bye in round 1, but had to face the winners of a Welsh V Slovakia match. Their last 16 match was against Philips and Morgan from Wales, Mark & Bruce achieved a terrific win 15-11, 15-13 to make it to the last 8 in this internatyional event. They faced the only remaining Czech pair in the Quarter Final, A tough battle saw Bruce and Mark Topping winning the first set 15-10, the second swung the other way 11-15, the third set had both pairs tied at 14-14, then set to first to 3(17). It was really heartbreaking to see the Irish pair lose 17-15.  But another superb performance by the Topping Brothers on the International Stage.

This was not bad preparation at all for the Irish Mens Doubles pair, as they left Liberec for Aarhus Denmark -  the 5* Denmark Open. A bye in Round 1 did not help Bruce and Mark, as they met English Pair Lindley and Roebuck who had played in the first round. Toppings were slower to get into the match, whereas the English pair seemed much quicker off the mark in the first set, winning comfortably. The second set was a much closer affair, with the Toppings eventually losing 15-12, but the big play from the Toppings had come too late, and they were out of the Denmark Open.

The next International Events, The Slovak International 2004 21-24 Oct, clashes with the Cyprus International an event in which the Irish shone last year. SEE HERE for 2003/04 Irish Performances and results
So although the Slovak International will not see any Irish entries this year, I expect that the Cyprus International 21-24 Oct will, 
- 2003 had an Irish Finalist (Toppings in Mens Doubles) , Semi-Finalists (Catriona Farrell and Brian Smyth in Mixed D) and Quarter Finalists (Neil Lynch & Brian Smyth MD, Catriona Farrell & Fiona Glennon WD, and Neil Lynch & Fiona Glennon MxD). 
Although this year's entries deadline has passed, the Draw will be made on 18th Oct, so we will wait until then to know for sure who is representing Ireland this year.
Thanks to Brian Smyth for supplying the following: 
The players that have entered in the Cyprus International are:
Brian Smyth(doubles with scott evans), 
Scott Evans(singles and doubles), 
Clare Flood(singles and mixed with Shai Geffan)
and Bruce and Mark Topping in the mens doubles.

Irish Badminton Gold in Lithuania, as history is made

Irish Badminton Gold in Lithuania, as history is made

Badminton history was made in Lithuania last week as, for the first time in a European event, the men's doubles final at the Lithuanian International Badminton Championships was an all Irish affair. In a well-contested match, the experienced Topping brothers, Mark & Bruce, ultimately had a straight sets win over the youthful pairing of Brian Smyth and Scott Evans. All four players participate in the High Performance Squad which was only set up in May this year following the appointment of Bo Omosegaard as National Coach. This excellent performance by the Irish players shows the first tangible results of this training. 'Irish players are as talented as anyone in Europe,' said Omosegaard. 'We are looking forward to more victories on the international stage.'

RESULT LITHUANIAN INTERNATIONAL BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIP

B Topping & M Topping (Ireland) bt B Smyth & S Evans (Ireland) 15/10 15/9European Senior Championships -Almuneca Granada Spain 21-26 Sep

Indeed, the Mens Double's was not the only event entered by the Irish in Lithuania, Scott Evans lost his singles round to Semi-Finalist Lang Ville. Claire Flood was a Quarter finalist in women's singles, losing only in 3 sets to eventual finalist Ugne URBONAITE. Claire paired with a Czech partner also played in the women's doubles, losing out on a place in the Semi-Final to the event winners. So out of 5 Irish entries in Lithuania, Irish had 1 win, 1 Runner's Up and 2 Quarter Finalists.

A few of the same players followed onto Bulgaria, for the Bulgarian International 16-19 Sep, in Men's Singles Scott Evans was unlucky to be drawn against one of the tournament seeds Craig Goddard (Scotland), but still managed to run him close in both sets, unlucky not to win 1 if not both sets.
In Men's Doubles, Scott Evans & Brian Smyth were drawn V RUBEN Khosadalina Gordown & SINDORO Aji Basuki from Indonesia who went on to win the event, beating the no.1 seeds.
In the other side of the draw, Bruce Topping, & Mark Topping had a bye in the 1st Round, before defeating the winners of a Turkey V Bulgaria match. The Toppings progressed to the Quarter Final Stages, but narrlowly lost to England's (No.2 seeds) Steve Foster and Carl Goode in 3 close sets.
In Mixed Doubles, Caitriona Farrell & Brian Smyth with a bye in Round 1, defeated the first round winners from of a Bulgaria/Egypt match and progressed to the QF where they went down to lose a tough opposition - English Pairing BHATTI Aqueel & LITHERLAND Katie.  All in all, of 4 events, Ireland had 2 Quarter Finalists, and another defeated by the eventual winner.

This week Liam Sinnott represents Ireland in the European Senior Championships Granada Spain,  Mens Singles 40+ .
UPDATE: Liam was drawn to face Swiss Felice MARCHESI, but according  to the Championships website, Felice was given a walkover. It would appear that Liam Sinnott did not take part in the European Senior Championships after all.

Next Irish representation in International Badminton would appear to be this coming weekend, when in the Czech Republic International Championhships in Liberec, 30th September - 3rd October, Scott Evans plays Men's singles, Karen (Huang) Bing and Claire Flood both compete in the Womens Singles,  Women's Doubles sees Ireland represented by Catriona Farrell and Fiona Glennon, Men's Doubles sees both finalist pairings from the Lithuanian International - Mark & Bruce Topping, and Scott Evans & Brian Smyth. The Czech International Mixed Doubles has 3 Irish entries, Neil Lynch & Fiona Glennon, Brian Smyth & Catriona Farrell (Quarter Finalists in Bulgaria), and  Scott Evans and Huag Bing.

As the Czech Republic International ends, the 5* Denmark Open begins. Ireland's focus will be on the Mens Doubles as Mark and Bruce Topping,  will play the winners of LINDLEY David (ENG) / ROEBUCK Kristian (ENG)  V YOGA Uki Kasah (INA) / SUKMAWAN Rian (INA).

Meanwhile this weekend, 26/27 sees Ireland's  Autumn Open Championships:
UPDATE:
in Men's Singles, Ciaran D'Arcy defeated Scott Evans in the Final - 15-8, 15-10 (Mike Adams & Nigel Boyne the losing Semi-Finalists).
Women's Singles, Keelin Fox met Ruth Kilkenny in the Final,  winning  11-2, 11-5(Claire Flood & Catriona Farrell the losing semi finalists),
Men's Doubles, Mark Topping partnered David Gannon, and won a 3 set thriller Final against Ciaran D'Arcy and Neil Lynch, 11-15, 17-15, 15-10 (losing Semi Finalists were: Neil Tierney & Alan Ryan, and Brian Smyth & Scott Evans).
Women's Doubles: Ruth Kilkenny & Keelin Fox defeated Jackie Monk and Fiona Glennon in a closely fought Final, 17/14 15/9. (Catriona Farrell & Aoife Aherne and Erin Keery & Donna Scott were the losing Semi-Finalists)
Finally in Mixed Doubles, Keelin Fox made it a clean sweep for herself , following Singles and Doubles victories, this time partering David Hogan to a Final victory over Jackie Monk and pat Marron, (losing the Semi-Finals were Aoife Aherne & Alan Ryan and Fiona Glennon and Neil Lynch).

With regards recent World Rankings:
Mark and Bruce Topping have now moved inside the top 50 in the world of Mens Doubles.
Brian Smyth and Scott Evans are up inside the top 150 for the first time.
Brian Smyth & Catriona Farrell have moved to 76th in Mixed Doubles, In Mens Singles Scott Evans is up to 254.
Karen Huang and Donal O'Halloran remain at 38th in Mixed Doubles. Karen (Huang) also remains at 58th in Singles, Karen plays in the Czech Rep. International next week, her first competitive International Singles or Doubles match since the European Championships on 24th April 2004.

Lithuanian International 10-12 Sep:

Mens Singles - Scott Evans at the 1/32 stage,  lost 15-8, 15-4, lost to Semi-Finalist Lang Ville

WS: Clare Flood, won 1/16 11-5, 11-0, Quarter Final lost in 3 sets 11-8 3-11 0-11 to eventual Finalist 

Mens Doubles:
QFinals: Bruce & Mark Topping beat Lithuanian pairing 15-1, 15-3,
Scott Evans and Brian Smyth beat Danish favourites HERMANSEN Soren,SKAGEN Kristian in straight sets 17-14, 17-14

SF Avoiding each other in the SemiFinals, The Toppings breeezed past an Estonian Smi-Final pair - winning to 0 and 7.
Scott and Brian were equally impressive defeating Lithuanian favourites 15-6 15-3

FINAL So an All-Irish Final: Bruce and Mark winning 15-9, 15-10. Well done to all

WD: Clare Flood paired with BENESOVA Martina of Czech Rep, lost in the Quarter Final match to the eventual winners.

5 events entered, 1 Win, 1 r-up, 2 QF

 http://junioropen.net/  
Danish Junior Open 2004, 8th, 9th May 2004
Denmark is the Hub of top level badminton in Europe. Ireland fortunately has one or two players who can compete with the best at Junior  level. There are U11, U13, U15 and U17 Categories in the Danish Open this coming weekend. 
U11's Boys' Singles and Doubles, Ireland is represented by the up and coming star Ruaraidh Sim. In Doubles he partner's Dane David Daugaard. In his 3-person group in Singles, his first round matches will be played on Saturday 8th at 9:00 and 9:50. The winner of this Pool 7 would advance to the main Finals draw, with 11 others. In Doubles Ruaraidh is already in the last 32 draw.
Ireland's Scott Evans who competed for Ireland at Senior level in the European Championships recently, was  Runners-Up in Aros Cup recently, another Danish International Junior Event. Scott will be competing in the U17 Boy's Singles and Doubles, partnering  Ireland's Alexander (Alex) Sim, another player of star quality who has shown tremedous potential already. Alex is also competing in the Singles.
Alex's singles first Round Pool matches start at 12:30 and 16:00, while Scott in a group of 4 has 3 matches in his first Round Pool. But both are in opposite sides of the draw, so at least if they do progress to the Main- Draw, they would not meet until the Over-all Final. 
We wish all 3 of Ireland's Junior Stars all the best this weekend.
The above website will have all the result updates, at lunchtime and 10PM Saturday, and on Sunday, 2:30pm and again at 6:30pm, approx.
Send your Best Wishes to the players on the Forum at www.badmintonireland.com 

Irish Badminton players in European Championships,  Switzerland 
Day 1, 20th April:
In Mixed Doubles this morning, Karen and Donal were slow out of the starting blocks, and went down in straight sets to their French opponents, 6-15, 12-15, a french pair (KEHLHOFFNER Erwin / DECELLE Amelie) which has been playing all this past week in the European Team Championships.
And just off court in the past few minutes, Scott was defeated in Mens Singles Malaotin of Belarus (15-3 15-5).
Good News from Geneva, Karen (Huang) Bing has won her Ladies singles, first Round, defeating Nina WECKSTROM of Finland in straight sets, 11-6, 11-2
Well Done Karen,
Tomorrow (21st) at 10:40am (CET), Karen faces Olympic bound Bulgarian NEDELTCHEVA Petya, who is ranked inside the world's top 25. Best of Luck Karen.
Just in case you are interested, England in the Team event ended Empty handed for the first time since the European Championships began back in 1972. They were defeated for the Bronze by surprise team Germany. Not too surprisingly Denmark won the European Title, and Netherlands were Runners Up.
Day 2, 21st April:
 In Karen's Second Round of the Women's Singles, Bulgarian Petya Nedeltcheva proved her high World ranking and emerged victorious. 
13:21:23: Mark and Bruce Topping have just come off court. Having lost the first set to Slovenian Pair, SEPEC Miha Junior & POHAR Andrej, 5-15,the Irish partnership then won the second set 15-7, to take the match into a third set. After a grueling one hour and six minutes on court, Mark and Bruce lost out 10-15 in the third, to deny them a last 16 encounter with Danes RASMUSSEN Jonas & PAASKE Lars, the Top European and World Mens Doubles couple.
Well done to all the Irish in Geneva - Mark, Bruce, Karen, Scott and Donal. Ireland is proud to have you representing us.
Mention should also go to Cormac Breslin, an Umpire at the European Championships, representing BUI.
 http://www.badminton.ie 

In the meantime Ireland's top Juniors are in Nottingham for the U17 Nottingham Championships this week. 
 http://www.badminton.ie 

The International Olympic Committee has now released the review by its
Programme Commission for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. The proposals
must be confirmed by the 114th IOC session in Mexico during November but,
if they are, there will be some significant entries to and exits from
the programme.

The Commission reviewed applications for 19 new sports to be included in
Beijing. They dismissed Roller Sports, Polo and Surfing as not having wide
enough appeal and not meeting the basic requirement of being practised in 75
countries. Bridge and Chess were also excluded, as the Commission recommend that ‘Mind Sports’ should not be eligible for the Olympic Programme as there is no ‘physical element’ involved in the competitions.

Ten sports, including Squash, were rejected on the basis that their inclusion
would not ‘bring additional value to the Programme’. The other sports not
admitted were Air Sports, Billiards, Boules, Dance Sport, Bowling, Racquetball, Water Ski, Underwater sports and Wushu. The latter, known as Kung Fu outside China had been requested by the Beijing organisers and their request will be given further consideration.

The Commission supported the introduction of Golf and Rugby 7s, but only if they can deliver the top athletes to the Games. Karate was also given a
favourable review, but either Judo or Taekwondo would have to go to allow it
to be admitted.

The most controversial questions for the Mexico IOC session surround the
recommendations for sports to be deleted. First on the list are Baseball and
Softball, which are not played in many countries and need expensive and
exclusive facilities. It was also noted that the best pro players did not
compete in Olympic Baseball. Modern Pentathlon and Equestrian Eventing were
also recommended for exclusion on the basis that they are not widely practised
and need expensive facilities.

The Commission will also try to generate a slimmer and fitter programme by
recommending that some disciplines already on the list, or scheduled for
introduction, also disappear. The major ones are Slalom Kayak, Women’s Boxing,
Greco Roman Wrestling, Racewalking, Keel Boat Sailing, some Shooting events,
mixed doubles Badminton and the Synchonised Swimming team event.
...
Read the full story at: 
 http://www.worldsquash.org/wsf/olympicgames.html 

In other Sports News, Mark and Bruce Topping compete in the Mens Doubles in the Austrian badminton International today. Donal O'Halloran and Karen Bing have had to pull out of the Mixed doubles and singles in the Swiss Open, due to an injury picked up by Karen recently.  Laura Thonpson and Jennie King play Singles, Womens Doubles and Mixed Doubles in the German Junior Open next week.

Tomorrow Mark and Bruce Topping play in the Austrian International Mens Doubles. The Qualification Rounds will take place first, but the Toppings are in the main Draw. Their first Round encounter is against Swedish pair Jorgen OLSSON (SWE), Imanuel HIRSCHFEIDT (SWE). Mark and Bruce already met this pair in the Quarter Final stages of the Hungarian International last year, when the Swedes emerged victorious.8/15,11/15. A win would give a last 16 match against Dutch CREEMEERS Tijs and WOUTERS Jürgen who recently made it to the Quarter Finals of the Swedish International. 
Our best wishes are with both Irish pairs this week and we will post the result here as they come to hand.
www.EuropeanIrish.com/Sport/irishbadminton.htm 
Check www.badmintonireland.com for forum discussions about the badminton scene in Ireland..

Results and Team sheets at:
 http://www.europeanirish.com/Sport/badminton_slov.htm  

The Men's next match being played at 17:00 local time is  against group favourites France, Then tomorrow at lunchtime, the Irish play Finland. Yesterday, France beat Finland 3-2. (France winning 3rd singles and the 2 mens doubles).
The ladies team played a highly fancied Scottish team. The Irish team did not start well, losing all 3 singles matches. Although the Ladies Doubles also lost, the team of Huang Bing, Jennie King, Ruth Kilkenny, Pauline and Fiona Glennon will be hoping to fair better against group favourites Netherlands today, before taking on Latvia tomorrow.
Results and Team sheets at:
 http://www.europeanirish.com/Sport/badminton_slov.htm 
For more Irish badminton stories see, 
www.badmintonireland.com 

Irish Table Tennis and Badminton Stars in Croatia, Greece, Austria, Poland, Sweden

Follow the Irish Table Tennis stars compete in Zagreb Croatia this coming week, and in Athen s Greece at the end of the month
Irish Badminton Stars have been doing well lately especially at the Irish Open in Lisburn and the Italian Internatioonal in Rome recently. 
In Rome recently, in Men's single Ciaran Darcy made it to the last 16 where he lost out on a quarter final place narrowly 15-12 and 15-14 to German Roch.
In Ladies singles with Keelin Fox and Huang Bing - Bing made it to the Semi-Final losing in 3 sets to eventual champion ALLEGRINI Agnese.
Men's Doubles - Ciaran Darcy this time partnering Neil Lynch lost over 3 sets, a place in the Quarter Finals to the eventual Runners-Up of the Championship, while Brian Smyth and Scott Evans also lost in the last 16.
In Ladies Doubles with 2 pairings - Fox &  Huang, Pauline & Fiona Glennon, and Catriona Farrell (partnering Italian Stelling) all made it to the Quarter Final stages.
The Italian International Mixed Doubles 3 Irish parings in the Quarter Finals, and all 3 would have progressed tot he Semi-Finals, if 2 pairs hadn't met in the QF. Trhough to the Semi Final were Huang and Donal O'Halloran, and while Nial Lynch and Fiona Glennan won over 3 sets against Evans and Fox. Lynch and Glennan lost their Semi Final but O'jhalloran and Huang made it through to contest the Final. Losing the first 11-15, thery stormed back and won the second set 15-3, but losing the heartbreaking third set by just 4 points was most disappointing.
All in all tis was a superb performance by the irish Team at an international event, 2 went as far as the Semi Finals, 4 as far as the Quarter Finals, and we had 1 contesting the Final..

This weekend it's the Swedish International. (at which Huang and O'Halloran will contest the Ladies Singles and Mixed Doubles) , and the Polish Junior B International, Next week it's the Finlandia Cup in Vienna Austria which is a team event, at which the following Irish Team will participate:

Ireland - IRL

Evans Lee 
Evans Scott 
McMillan Evan 
Henderson Bryan 
O’Neill William 
Cleave Matthew 

Player – female:
Jennifer King
Corcoran Lucie
Keery Erin
Thompson Laura
Hutchison Rachel
Ritchie Gemma
 www.EuropeanIrish.com/Sport/Sportsyear.htm 

Huge Irish Squad at the Rome Italian  International Badminton Championships this weekend.
Following the Irish Badminton International in Lisburn last weekend, in which the Topping Brothers qualified for the Quarter Finals in the Mens Doubles, 
Ireland is sending one of its largest ever travelling squad to the Italian International in Rome this coming weekend.
http://www.badminton-italia.com/
italianinternational/homepage.htm