21 November, 2023
Greg and Jenny Mairs were denied victory in the mixed doubles final of the AIG FZ FORZA Irish Open despite faring best out of a plethora of Badminton England talent.
The second-seeded duo came from a game down to level things with top seeds Terry Hee and Jessica Tan of Indonesia but fell short in the decider, eventually going down 21-18 12-21 21-15.
The pair stormed to the quarter-finals and dug deep to book a place in the semis, coming from behind against Rasmus Espersen and Amalie Cecilie Kudsk to win 19-21 21-17 21-15.
A 21-14 21-19 victory over Ties van der Lecq and Alyssa Tirtosentono then sealed a place in the showpiece before defeat to Hee and Tan.
Elsewhere, Rory Easton and Zach Russ were eyeing similar heights to their Dutch Open triumph but were knocked out by third seeds Andreas Sondergaard and Jesper Toft in the men’s doubles semi-final.
They overcame another Danish pairing, William Kryger Boe and Christian Faust Kjær, 21-17 21-18 in the quarter-finals but lost in two games, 21-12 21-13, to Sondergaard and Toft.
In other men’s doubles pairings, Koon Fung Kelvin Ho and Samuel Jones could not get past the round of 32 despite a tight 25-23 opening game against Chinese Taipei’s Chan Yueh Lin and Chu Bo Rong, before losing the second 21-16.
Jones fell at the same stage with Sian Kelly in the mixed doubles round of 32, losing to Esperen and Kudsk.
Harry Huang made it as far as the quarter-finals on the penultimate day in the men’s singles but lost to Irishman Nhat Nguyen 21-13 21-17, who went on to take a home tournament win.
In the women’s doubles, Abbygael Harris and Annie Lado were denied a place in the quarter-finals, losing out to Nastasja Anthonisen and Alyssa Tirtosentono 21-16 21-14 in the round of 16.
Harris could not get past the opening round with mixed doubles partner Brandon Yap as he missed out on a round of 16 place with Alex Green in the men’s doubles.
Meanwhile, Lado advanced to the round of 16 alongside mixed doubles partner Ethan Van Leeuwen but they were knocked out by fourth seeds Sondergaard and Iben Bergstein 21-14 14-21 21-15.
It was a similar story for Lizzie Tolman and Estelle Van Leeuwen, who were beaten by finalists and second seeds Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva at the same stage, 21-17 21-3.
Tolman failed to make it past the first round with mixed doubles partner Green, losing to Brian Wassink and Jaymie Laurens of the Netherlands.
Freya Redfearn lost 21-19 21-10 in the round of 32 to Kaloyana Nalbantova as men’s singles’ Johnnie Torjussen fell in the same round, losing 21-16 21-19 to Gregoire Deschamp.
Callum Hemming was forced to withdraw in the mixed doubles and men’s doubles pairings with Estelle and Ethan Van Leeuwen prior to their round of 32 clashes as Zack Bobrowski missed qualification.
