By Dermot Keys 

Chloe Magee helped Ireland to its first international success of the season when she won the Head Slovakian International Open along with her doubles partner, Karen Bing, at the weekend.

The Raphoe athlete was appearing in an international competition for the first time since her involvement in the summer’s Beijing Olympics. The Irish pair went into the tournament as number one seeds and they lived up to their ranking with a solid 21-13, 21-8 win over Polish pair, Anna Narel and Natalai Pocztowiak, in the final. Along the way they defeated the Croatian pairing of Stasa Poznanovic and Maja Savor and the Finnish pair, Nanna Vainio and Elina Vaisanen.

Chloe once again showed the same determination that won her so many fans during the Olympics and combined well with her experienced partner.

She was also competing in the singles competition, where she was once again the top seed. Unfortunately, she was defeated by Laerke Folsted on Friday.

Chloe’s brother, Dan, was in action in Slovakia and he put in a credible display along with his English partner, Richard Wrigley. They defeated pairings from the Czech Republic and Hungary to make it to the quarter-finals.  After a tight match, they were knocked out by Eetu Heino and Jesper Von Hertzen of Finland on a score of 22-20, 21-16.