Chloe and Sam Magee go for an upgrade of the colour today in Denmark following yesterday evening’s historic exploits.
The Raphoe brother-sister duo secured Ireland’s first ever European Badminton Championships medal when they defeated former Gold medalists Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba from Poland 22-20 17-21 21-12.
With a bronze guaranteed, the Magees now face off with home favourites, number 1 seeds and defending champions Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen, who are aiming for a third Gold in-a-row this time around.
“We’ve got nothing to lose,” said a delighted Chloe Magee.
“We’ll give our best and you never know what can happen in those matches. Obviously it’s a big ask but we have to go out and give our best and see where it takes us.”
Chloe has been to three Olympic Games at women’s singles, but has decided to concentrate fully now on her mixed doubles partnership with Sam. Grabbing a medal feels like a lifetime ambition has been achieved.
She said: “We wanted to get that medal and we knew we had a good draw if we played well enough. But we had the number five seeds in the first round so could easily have lost there.
“Now we’re in the semi-final we can just go for it.
“The aim, the goal was a medal. I think our whole career, that was our aim, winning a medal and we’ve done that today. It’s really good when there’s a guaranteed bronze but we can go out there now and really show how good we are.”
Mateusiak and Zieba were fourth seeds and are former Gold medal winners, but the composed Magees turned in a magnificent performance to open a new chapter for Irish badminton.
Chloe said” “I just can’t believe it. It’s just so very, very good to get over the line.
“We were good in the third set and got a bit of control to go 11-2 up but we knew it wasn’t the end of that match and we really wanted that medal. You’re never really secure, even at 11-2.
“It was all about staying in the moment but that’s very hard sometimes! I think we did it at the end of the match. They got it back to 18-12 and I think they were the three hardest points of our lives.”
Tags:
