Rachael Darragh determined to make up for lost time at World Championships 

Rachael Darragh admits that the last year has been a difficult one as she’s tried to fend off a rotten run of injury luck on the badminton court. 

After the highs of her Olympic debut in Paris, the Raphoe girl then needed wrist surgery. She’s finally back and pain-free as she looks forward to the World Championships this week.

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“It’s been a bit of a crazy year,” she said. “I’d surgery on the wrist after the Olympics so I’m at the comeback stage right now. 

“So I’m just looking forward to getting back to some tournaments and see how the rehab has gone. 

“It was great to have the Parfis experience and, looking back, it’s hard to believe it‘s a year ago. 

“We have World Championships now coming up back at the same venue so that’s exciting”.

Having had to navigate that difficult 12-month period in between, Darragh believes she’s leaned from the experience and now wants to turn that into a positive in France this week. 

“I think it wasn’t ideal, no one wants to be injured but it’s a part of sport and training at an elite level it’ll happen.

“Working along with my sports psychologist Jessie Barr, we’re looking at it in a positive way rather than something that was an inconvenience. 

“This is one of my first events back and will be a good test. There will be some rust there but it’s exciting”.