Ireland has won their second tie at the BWF TOTAL Sudirman Cup in Nanning this morning in China, by beating New Zealand 3-2.
With a slight switch in the team which beat Nepal 5-0 on Sunday, the Irish team won the tie against New Zealand on Day Three of the cup.
Ireland's comeback
Despite winning the tie 3-2, Ireland did not get off to the best start with the Mixed Doubles up first, as Sam/Chloe Magee was up against Oliver Leydon-Davis/Anona Pak. The Irish pair lost in three games, levelling to one game all in the second game.
Kate Frost was then up for Ireland in the Women’s Singles category, against Sally Fu from New Zealand. Frost won the first game of another three-game match but her opponent came back to win the contest in the second with a 14-21 win and the third, winning 18-21.
From then the pressure was on Ireland, as they needed to win all remaining matches of the tie, with three categories to play for. The comeback started with the Men’s Singles as Nhat Nguyen won a three-game contest against Abhinav Manota.
With two more wins needed for them to win the tie, it was done so, in a comfortable fashion. Rachael Darragh/Chloe Magee in Women’s Doubles winning comfortably against Fu/Pak.
While Sam Magee/Nhat Nguyen played their second match of the day and won in straight games, against Abhinav Manota/Dacmen Vong.
You can find all of the results, here
Happy with the performance
Nguyen has spoken to Badminton Europe following the team’s second win of the Sudirman Cup and spoke about the change when playing in Asia, something, some of the team members would not be used to.
Nguyen was pivotal in Ireland winning the tie, winning both matches where he was involved, for his team.
- Playing in China/Asia is always different than in Europe. The hall is a lot bigger and slower, so we needed to change the game a little bit, Nguyen said.
- We have managed to beat New Zealand and Nepal so far with a good team performance all round. So hopefully, we can keep this up against Australia tomorrow, he continued.
The 18-year old also admitted that the performance could be better, despite winning both ties so far.
- It has been good so far but we all know we can play better. hopefully, we can all play our best tomorrow, Nguyen said.
- Sam and I, as well as Chloe and Rachael all, play in Doubles for club matches, and in training, so it’s something we are used to.