Chloe and Sam Magee take Irish Open mixed doubles crown

Chloe and Sam Magee delivered a majestic performance at the National Indoor Arena, Blanchardstown to secure the Irish Open Badminton mixed doubles crown.

Thanks to a straight games win (21-13, 21-12) over English duo Harley Towler and Emily Westwood, the Donegal siblings became the first Irish winners at the tournament since Scott Evans’ singles triumph in 2012.

It also brought Chloe’s long-awaited search for a second Irish Open final victory to an end, after she previously claimed the women’s doubles title (alongside Bing Huang) in 2007.

At the end of a week when their younger brother Joshua and niece Rachael Darragh were also in action, the Raphoe pair were determined to make amends for last year’s final reversal to Gregory Mairs and Jenny Moore (England).

Spurred on by a vocal home crowd, they accumulated six consecutive points to move into a 19-11 advantage, and held off an attempted fightback from Towler and Westwood to ultimately secure the opening game.

While Chloe’s volley against the net cut their cushion to 14-11 deep into the second game, they immediately broke their counterparts’ resistance with five points in quick succession.

This was a catalyst for them ease over the line – adding to their impressive bronze medal finish at last year’s European Championships.

France’s Leo Rossi was crowned Irish Open men’s singles champion with a magnificent straight games triumph (21-17, 21-9) over Lars Schaenzler.

Despite being unseeded coming into the tournament, Rossi completed a superb week in west Dublin with an emphatic display against his European rival.

Both players had booked their place in the final courtesy of surprise last-four victories on Friday. Whereas Rossi defeated the second ranked Alexander Roovers at the end of a three-game thriller, Schaenzler eliminated the tournament’s top seed – Raul Must of Estonia – in similar circumstances.

As anticipated, there was little to separate the two players during the early exchanges. Level on no fewer than four occasions, the opening game of this showpiece encounter looked set to go down to the wire.

However, after securing a fourth consecutive point, Rossi created daylight between himself and the Saarbrücken resident. Indeed, when he developed a 7-2 advantage on the resumption, the French teenager looked set to ease over the line.

Schaenzler subsequently fired back to restore parity (9-9), but this was as good as it got for the largely overwhelmed German. Thanks to an astounding haul of 12 points in succession, Rossi ultimately cruised towards a much-deserved success.

While Korea’s Se Young An overcame the challenge of fellow compatriot Ga Eun Kim to claim the Irish Open Badminton women’s singles title.

While a straight games success might suggest Young had it all her own way, she was pushed to the limit throughout by a determined Kim.

Kim effortlessly settled into her stride. Young had defeated Dubliner Sara Boyle en route to this stage, but she found herself trailing 11-4 during the early moments of a fast-paced affair.

The customary break in play afforded Young an opportunity to re-focus and she slowly reduced the gap that existed between her and Kim.

Capitalising on a series of errors by her opponents, she eventually hit the front (20-19) in spectacular fashion.

Deadlock on four occasions after that, Young eventually claimed the opening game on a score of 26-24. She build on this impressive turnaround to lead 7-2 after the restart, before Kim found a way back into the reckoning.

Young kept her composure as the action wore on, however, and eventually had four points to spare  (21-17) over her committed rival in a compelling second game.