No joy for Donegal stars at the 2024 European badminton championships

There were no joyous scenes for Donegal stars Rachael Darragh and Joshua Magee at the 2024 European badminton championships in Saarbrücken, Germany. 

The Donegal star Darragh lost out to Miranda Wilson in the last 32 of the tournament in a close matchup, with Wilson taking the opening game 24-22. And while Darragh had game point in the second game at 20-19, the Donegal star didn’t convert with Wilson taking the match at 23-2. 

Darragh earned a career-high global badminton ranking of 59 back in November when she bagged her best-ever result - a quarter-final at the Abu Dhabi Super 100 event. And while she now sits in 72nd position she hopes that she has her spot secured for Paris this summer. 

Elsewhere at the European championships, Donegal’s Joshua Magee and Clare’s Moya Ryan have lost out in the last 16 of the European Championships, with the Irish losing out to Ruben Garcia and Lucia Rodriguez 21-15 and 21-12. 

Magee and his partner Paul Reynolds failed to make the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles yesterday, losing out to third seeds Ben Lane and Sean Vendy of England on a score of 21-15 and 21-14. 

Magee and Reynolds won bronze back in September at the Peru Challenge.