As the Denmark Open kicked off in the picturesque city of Odense most supporters' eyes were firmly fixed on the plethora of Danish talent on show but the real heroes of the day were undoubtedly the mixed doubles pairing of Magee siblings Sam and Chloe (pictured left) from Ireland as they created history as being the first Irish mixed pairing to enter the first round proper in a Super Series event.

By Mark Phelan (live in Odense).  Photos: Badmintonphoto.com (live)


The Magees, who hail from the tiny village of Raphoe in Donegal Ireland, showed maturity beyond their years to comfortably ease into tomorrow’s first round proper with stunning wins over Danish pair Christophersen and Thorberg and fancied UK pair Ellis and Mason.  In the opening match, the siblings silenced the home crowd with a 21-6, 21-17 drubbing of Christophersen and Thorberg and followed that victory with another sub-20-minute victory over the returning Ellis and Mason 21-14, 21-10.  The reward for their qualification efforts is a match up with China’s number 6 seeds Tao Jiaming and Zhang Yawen in the first round proper tomorrow.

"We played well today and I have to be really happy about making it to the first round proper.  All we wanted to do was go out there today and put up a good show and I’m glad now we have shown something of what we can do. Even though we are brother and sister, we have not played much together in mixed doubles so this is really our first year," said a delighted Chloe Magee after her victory.

In the men’s singles draw, there was double joy for Denmark as both Sune Gavnholt (pictured right) and Christian Lind Thompsen both booked first round berths.  Gavnholt beat an out-of-sorts Scott Evans while on the adjoining court Lind Thompsen was a convincing winner over Swede Mathias Wigardt.  Teenage Indian prodigy Gurusaidutt D.M.V. continued his rise to stardom with a hard-earned three-game win over Raul Must of Estonia while Henri Hurskainen made up the quartet of qualifiers.

In women’s singles, Olga Konon continued her tournament comeback with another convincing qualification display and the young Belarusian, who now plays for Poland, will be looking to repeat her Dutch Open form with a good run in this week’s main draw.

"It’s good to be back playing regular tournaments and I feel like I’m starting to get back into the grove on court now. It takes tournament matches to get into a tournament frame of mind and I do feel confident after my recent run to the semi-final at the Dutch Open.  Right now it's one match at a time for me so I'm not even looking beyond tomorrow’s first round," commented Konon.

Elsewhere there were qualifying victories for three Danish girls as Karina Jorgensen, Camilla Martens and Amanda Mathiasen advanced to the main draw.

In the mixed doubles, both Japanese pairs advanced after a trouble-free qualification with the darling of Japanese badminton, Reiko Shiota, smiling her way blissfully through a two-game win over Oedum and Haxem of Denmark.

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