Outstanding Offaly player lines out for Ireland in badminton

OFFALY U15 badminton player, Wyatt Winston from the Phoenix club in Tullamore has proved that hard work and dedication pays off.

For the past two years, Wyatt has travelled to Dublin for training sessions and played all the Irish tournaments, and last week he was selected to play for Ireland in an U15 Quadrangular British and Irish tournament in Milton-Keynes in England this past weekend.

Individuals:

The first day of the tournament featured individual events. Wyatt was fierce unlucky in his singles draw to be pitted against the number 1 seed in the first round. He didn’t progress to the second round. The doubles, playing with Luke Marks, went much better. The pair reached the quarterfinals and their opponents—the #1 seeds. They lost in 2 sets, but scored more points against the English pair than did either their semifinal or final opponents. Wyatt teamed with Carol Joy for the Mixed Doubles, and again he and his partner reached the quarter-finals. The pair lost the 1^st set 17/21; put in a huge effort in the 2^nd set and came out on top 23/21. They couldn’t carry their momentum into the 3^rd set and lost set and game 15/21.

Team Event:

Ireland met Scotland in the first round of the team event. Wyatt played 2^nd Doubles with Luke Marks and won with a nail-biting 1^st set, 22/20 and finished 21/11. Playing with Emily Maxwell in Mixed Doubles, the pair won 21/14, 21/11. Unfortunately, the Irish team lost narrowly, Ireland 4/Scotland 5. The results against England was devastating. Ireland lost 9-nil. Great jubilation followed Ireland’s last match against Wales. Ireland won the match 9-nil.

Final placings:

With one win and two losses, the Irish players came home from the competition wearing the bronze medals. England finished with Gold and Scotland with Silver.