Competition Round up- January-March

It has been a busy few months of competition from the end of January through to the start of March for Masters, Senior and underage players. Some great performances and titles won across the board. 

Ulster Masters 28th-29th January

The Ulster Masters was held over 2 days at the National Badminton Centre, Lisburn with 28 events over 7 (Over 35 to Over 70) age groups  & 124 players competing . Ulster players had significant success over a lot of the age groups with 9 titles and 35 Medallist from Ulster. Congrats to all who participated and to the Winners. Full results can be found here

Forza Irish Nationals 4th-5th February

Raphoe’s Josh Magee stretched his National title wins to 10 by winning the Men’s Doubles and the Mixed Doubles at the Irish Nationals. Partnering Paul Reynolds in the Doubles the World Ranked 55 pair played a solid competition to win the event 21-11, 21-12 in the final against Adam McAllister & David Walsh. In the Mixed he partnered Moya Ryan and again had a comfortable event winning 21-16, 21-16 in the final to attain his 10th National Title. Congrats to Josh on a great record of National Titles!

U19 player Paige Woods had a great event also reaching the final of the Women’s Doubles with her partner Michelle Shochan losing out to Top seeds Kate Frost & Moya Ryan in the final. Paige also reached the Semi Final of the Women’s Singles before losing out to Siofra Flynn, Overall a good event for the young player. Full results can be found here 

Forza Masters Nationals 11-12th February

The Irish Masters Nationals took place at Baldoyle Badminton Centre Dublin with 2 great days of Badminton for the Masters Players. Ulster had a number of entries across all the 40 age classification events. Ulster players took home 10 Gold medals and a number of silver and Bronzes. Great to see a the Masters entries maintain their Large entries across the provincial and National events.

For full results and winners click here

Forza A Grade, D Grade & G Grade – 25-26th February

The Forza A, D & G grade were played over the same weekend across 2 venues, Baldoyle Badminton Centre & Marino Institute of Education.

In the A Grade event sisters Chloe & Paige Woods had a great event winning the Women’s Doubles  defeating the Top seeds Ciara Dwyer & Ruth Kilkenny in the Final 21-15, 21-15. It continues the great season the doubles pair are having after some great results & Wins at Senior level. Laura Bell & Roisin McKenna reached the semi finals of the event but lost out in 3 sets to the Top seeds. Roisin also reached the Semi final of the Women’s singles after a win in the Quarter Final against her doubles partner Laura Bell. Full A Grade event results can be found here

The Grade D & G events were played out to the Final positions with the Finals being played on 13th May at the B-H Graded Finals day. At the Grade G event there were 2 great performances in the Women’s Singles from Ella Cheung and Zoe Kearon both reaching the Final, making it an all Ulster shoot out for the title in May. Daniel Orr came through 4 tough rounds, including two 3 set matches to reach the Men’s Singles Final. He will face Jason Carr in the Finals in May. The Mixed Doubles event will be another all Ulster Final with Jamie Blakeman  &Ella Cheung  and the paringin of Daniel Orr & Zoe Kearon reaching the final of the mixed Doubles. Daniel and playing partner Jamie Blakeman had a good run in the Men’s Doubles losing out in the Semi Finals in 3 sets. The Women’s Singles finalists Ella & Zoe,  teamed up for the Women’s doubles and played 3 solid rounds to reach the final and will play Katie Delahunty & Rizlynne Idos in the finals.

Great to have some many of the young Ulster players competing and progressing the to Graded Finals day. Full Results can be found here

Munster U13 & U17 Open- 4-5th March

The Muster U13 & U17 was held at the University of Limerick for both age groups. Louise Kearon had a very strong U13 competition across the 3 events, winning 3 silver medals. Seeded 2 for the Girls Singles she had a 3 good wins to reach the final. There she faced the top seed, Carol Joy &  it was the top seed who played a very strong 2 sets to take the title. In the Girls Doubles, Louise teamed up with Raphoe’s Naomi McAuley. After a tricky opening round match which they came through in 3 sets the pair beat the 2nd seeds en-route to the final. There they faced Top seeds Carol Joy & Anusri Erukattil. The Ulster pair played a great opening Game to take it 21-18. The Top seeds came back strong in the 2nd & 3rd set to take both Games 21-19, 21-11 &  the title. In the Mixed Doubles Louise paired with Niall Keane were 2/4 seed for the event. 3 great performances, including a win over the 2nd Seeds ensured they reached the Final. It proved a tough Final for the pair up against Top seeds Lochlann O’Rourke & Carol Joy, losing out 21-8, 21-6. Overall a great event for Louise taking home 3 silvers and a silver medal for partner Naomi McAuley. Full Results here

In the Under 17 event Raphoe’s Kimberley Pearson & partner Zarah Pender were seeded ¾ for the Girls doubles and played 3 good rounds to reach the Final. There they faced the Top seeds Siofra Flynn and Michelle Shochan. It was a tough match for the ¾ seeds and it was the Dublin Pair that were strongest in the final winning 21-10, 21-8. For Full results click here.

A Busy month of events for all involved. Well done to all competitors, Winners & medallists along with the volunteers from Badminton Ireland and the provinces for running the events.