“It has been a really good year for us and such a nice way to end our year. We will now take a break from competition and train hard at home and come back in the new year fresh and ready to go again with a trip to Asia” said the Poles to Badminton Europe.

There was mixed emotions for the English on court today after such a dominant display in yesterday’s semi finals. Team England got off to the best possible start with a victory in the mixed doubles. Heather Olver and Marcus Ellis (pictured) didn’t put a foot wrong all week and tamed the attacking options of Khodabux and Piek to take the title in 2 sets.

Both Olver and Ellis were to appear in their second final each later in the day but both failed in their attempt to do the Irish doubles as sisters NG (pictured) from Malaysia thwarted the combination of Olver and Agathangelou in the women’s doubles in three sets with Ellis and Mills losing out to the Poles in the men’s doubles.

There was better fortune for number 1 English men’s singles player Rajiv Ouseph (pictured) as number 3 seed proved his class this week with a victory in the men’s singles over Wacha of Poland. Ouseph took the opening set before the Pole was forced to withdraw with a niggling back injury mid way through the second set.

“I came here looking to get a run of games together and after my victory in Scotland I was confident I could go far. I had some tricky matches this week and I’m really happy I worked my way through each of them mentally. I won the Irish in 2009 so it is really good to come back again and win the title” said Ouseph to Badminton Europe

There was disappointment for Carolina Marin in the women’s singles after the Spanish European junior champion took the opening set against Hsiao Ma Pai (pictured) of Chinese Taipai.  Pai came back strong in the second and third games and, after a confidence boosting win against top seed Pi Hongyan in the semi final, was always going to be a major threat to the young Spaniard. Pai got the best possible start in the third set and was out of sight by the mid game interval and went onto claim her first ever tournament title with a 21-7 win in the decider.

“I am so happy to win this my first International title. It has been great for me to come here to Ireland and to win against Pi Hongyan and now Carolina Marin in the final will give me great confidence moving forward. I go to Italy next week and I hope I can do as well there” said Hsiao Ma Pai to Badminton Europe.

To revisit all the games on demand log on to Badminton Europe TV by clicking HERE. Next LIVE tournament coverage will be in the New Year at the Swedish International in Stockholm.

For all results of the Yonex Irish International click here.
Click here to see the previous champions of the tournament which is been held since 1902.

For the current Badminton Europe rankings click here

Article and images by Mark Phelan (Live In Lisburn for Badminton Europe)