WATCH: Donegal siblings miss out on reaching mixed doubles final at AIG FZ Forza Irish Open

Sam and Chloe Magee may have lost out in their defence of their Irish Badminton Open Mixed Doubles title over the weekend, but the Donegal siblings are still on track in their bid to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

They have several big tournaments still to play in and it will not be until late Spring until they know if they qualify as it is based on a rankings system, with points from tournaments played.

They progressed swiftly through the main draw in the National Indoor Arena in Dublin, beating  Patrick Scheiel and Franziska Volkmann from Germany after two games, 21-11 and 21-9. 

The second seeds had an intense first game in the last 16 but came out with a win, beating William Villeger and Sharone Bauer (France), 21-19 and 21-13. 

Up next was a quarter-final against Mathias Thyrri & Mai Surrow from Denmark, whom they beat  19-21, 21-9, 21-13.

But it wasn’t to be for the Raphoe brother and sister as they lost to number three seeds Ronan Labar and Anne Tran of France, 21-17, 21-13 in the AIG FZ Forza Irish Open Semi-Finals.

The Open was covered on television by Badminton Europe & TG4.

Chloe Magee, already a three times Olympian in the ladies singles, is hoping for a fourth Olympics next year.

She is hoping that with her brother Sam that they can be Ireland’s first mixed doubles representatives in the Olympics.

In the summer the won European bronze medals.

Based in Dublin, both of them play professional badminton in Germany.

Meanwhile, another Magee brother, Joshua, was competing with Sara Boyle, also in the mixed doubles.They lost to England’s Gregory Mairs and Victoria Williams 21-16, 21-13.

Rachael Darragh, a niece of the other Magees, reached the last 16 of the women’s singles where she lost out to Qi Xuefei of France, 21-8, 21-6.

In her mixed doubles match, with Paul Reynolds, they made a first round exit after losing out to Lin Kuan-Ting and Lin Hsiang Ti of Taiwan 21-17, 19-21, 21-11.

Finals Results

MS -  Toma Junior Popov (8) (FRA) vs Pablo Abian (4) (ESP) - 21-10, 24-22.

WS - Qi Xuefei (4) (FRA) vs Julie Dawall Jakobsen (5) (DEN) - 21-15, 21-12.

MD - Jones Ralfy Jansen & Peter Kaesbauer (3) (GER) vs Alexander Dunn & Adam Hall (2) (SCO) - 21-19, 17-21, 21-18.

WD - Amalie Magelund & Freja Ravn (DEN) vs Delphine Delrue & Lea Palermo (FRA) - 21-18,21-11.

XD - Mathias Christiansen & Alexandra Boje (4) (DEN) vs Ronan Labar & Anne Tran (3) (FRA) - 21-13, 21-12.