badminton

Ireland lost 4-1 to the No4 seeds France in their opening match but fought back to end the hopes of Austria 3-2 and Lithuania 5-0 but with only one side going through from the group stage Ireland can be proud of what they achieved.

Alpha’s Rachael Woods took Margot Lambert to 21-17 21-18 in her women’s singles clash before injury forced her out.

Stephenson teamed up with Clodagh Dunne against France losing 21-13 21-9 but won both her singles matches against Austria, beating Carina Meinke 21-15 18-21 21-9 and Lithuanian Austeja Blantdyte 21-15 21-11.

She later formed a mixed doubles partnership with Brian O’Mahony to secure a victory against Lithuania pair Garbriele Paskeviciute and Jonas Petkus 21-11 21-17.

Woods partnered Clodagh Dunne to victory over the highly fancied Sarena Au Yeong and Sabrina Herbst 22-20 21-17 before the pair took only 16 minutes to end the challenge of Austeja Blandyte and Gabriele Paskeviciute 21-11 21-7.