Forza Ulster Open Preview

The Forza Ulster Open takes place at Lisburn Racquets Club this coming weekend (13-14th Oct) and has some great match ups in what will be a jam-packed weekend of badminton.

Mark Brady is the Top seed in for the WALSIN Men’s Singles and is seeded to meet ¾ seed Callum Thomas in the Semi-finals however must overcome his first-round opponent Daniel O’Meara and the unseeded Experienced players Conor Hickland and Nigel Boyne who are both in his half of the draw. Sam McKay is second seed in the singles event and is seeded to meet Azhar Syed as the ¾ seed in the semi-finals but again there are a few strong unseeded players within the bottom half of the draw looking to cause an upset including the returning Scott Burnside to singles. 

The WALSIN ladies singles Kate Frost is seeded 1 for the event but faces a tricky opening Round against the young Dublin player Sophia Noble who will be full of confidence after the singles win at the Leinster U17 event last weekend.  Ulster’s Rachael Woods is the second seed for the event and fresh of representing Ireland at the European Junior Championships will be looking to progress into the later stages of the event.

The Ulster/Dublin combination of Ciaran Chambers and Mark Brady are Top seeds in the Men’s Doubles and will face either Dempster/Marahaj or Topping/Bennet in the second round after a bye in the first. Tony Stephenson & Tony Murphy will be the other pair to look out for in the top half and will be looking to defend the title from last year. Dan Magee/Sam McKay are the 2nd Seeds and could potentially face former Men’s Doubles National title winners Scott Burnside & Conor Hickland in the second round which will sure to be the match of the early rounds.

Kate Frost & Moya Ryan are the top Seeds for the WALSIN Women’s doubles and fresh of their final at the Bulgarian International will be looking to continue their good form into this weekend. They will open their event against Coyne/Wong in the first round.

The ‘Woods Twin’s’ of Rachael & Rebecca are seeded second but have a tricky opening round against Keady Smith & Rebecca Getty. The young pair had some good performances at the European Junior championships and looking to progress far in the tournament and win their home senior event.

NI Commonwealth Games player Ciaran Chambers is top Seed in the WALSIN Mixed Doubles partnering Moya Ryan. They will open their account against Kevin Fahy & Laura Lynch. Dan Magee & Kate Frost are the second seeds for the event looking to continue their good start to the season.

The Ulster U11 & U15 event will be running alongside the Ulster Open so Make sure to come down a see some of the best players in Ireland compete and also the chance to win a New Forza Badminton Racquet and other Badminton Goodies in the Ulster Open Raffle!

Many Thanks to our sponsors WALSIN & FORZA for their support and our court Sponsor ICON Creative.