Irish In To Second Round In Kazan

Brother and sister partnership of Chloe and Sam Magee got the Irish of to winning ways at the 2014 European Championships in Kazan Russia. The Irish number one mixed partnership swept away their opponents Jakub Bitman and Alzbeta Basova from Czech Republic in the opening game winning 21-9. In the second game Bitman and Basova fought their way back into the game but at 18 all the Magee's kept their composure winning 21-18. Next they will face number one seeds the World number four ranked pairing of Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark.

Scott Evans kept the Irish winning streak going as he took on Ilija Pavlovic of Serbia. Evans took 19 minutes to book his second round place winning in straight games 21-6 21-9. Tomorrow the Irish number one men's single player faces number 4 seed Victor Axelsen of Denmark who had a bye into the second round.

In the Men's doubles Sam Magee and Jonathan Dolan faced the Dutch pairing of Jacco Arends and Jelle Maas of Holland. The Irish pairing had faced the Dutch pairing earlier this year at the Swedish open but had lost out 21-15 21-9 so they knew they had a tough game ahead of them. The Irish started well taking the opening set against the World number 40 pairing winning 21-13. In the second set Dolan and Magee led all the way up until 16 until the Dutch found some courage and fought back to steal the second game 21-17. This set up a nail biting third game and again it was the Irish up at the mid game interval however after the break Arends and Maas came out strong to see of the Irish challenge and continued to close out the match 21-19 in the third.

Last on court for the Irish was the women's doubles partnership of Sinead Chambers and Caroline Black. The Irish faced a tough test facing Lauren Smith and Gabrielle Adcock of England who had earlier won in her mixed doubles. The English pairing proved to be too strong in this match as they took the game 21-12 21-7

Chloe Magee who is seeded 7 will start her campaign in the women's singles tomorrow against Sabrina Jaquet of Switzerland.