Ireland’s Scott Evans has been beaten by Germany’s Marc Zwiebler in the opening round of badminton action in Beijing.
Twenty years old, and playing in his first Olympics, Ireland’s Scott Evans came within a hairsbreadth this morning of recording a famous victory.
The first man ever to represent Ireland at the Games went down fighting to Germany’s Marc Zwiebler in a thrilling three-game match – 21/18, 18/21, 21/19.
Zwiebler is ranked No. 23 in the world, 23 places higher than Evans. He had also won their last meeting. The Dubliner, however, matched him in every area of the court, using his big smash and net skills to stay in touch from start to finish.
50 minutes it lasted, full of punishing rallies which extended to some 40 shots. And when, in the closing moments of the final set, Evans drew ahead by two points, 18/15, the large and noisy Irish support in the hall sensed a real upset.
But the German left-hander, who has seven years of fulltime experience behind him, gathered himself, forced a couple of crucial errors and closed out the match.
Evans approached the court in Beijing in confident form, however, the start of the first set was not a success for the Copenhagen based athlete. The Irishman fell to 1-4 behind but managed to pull the score line back to 6-7 with two deft baseline lobs.
During Evans’ best period in the set he strung together a series of cross court smashes to overpower Zwiebler. This led to Evans securing a 14-12 lead.
Unfortunately, Evans German opponent recovered with a series of powerful smashes which were either too powerful for Evans to cope with or out of the former Wesley College man’s reach.
The second set started in much the same fashion for Evans, as he struggled to 1-4 down yet again. A series of successful rallies led Evans to a fully deserved lead at 8-7.
Evans produced three unforced errors, however, to hand the initiative back to his talented German opponent.
A see-saw battle ensued with points being taken tit for tat; Evans lack of power at times proving costly.
A series of baseline smashes brought Evans back into the lead at 18-17. From here Evans powered on to win the set with a backhand smash.
Evans started the third set much more brightly leading up to 8-7. Both players exchanged the lead at 8-9, 15-14 and finally 19-20.
Evans seemed to have Zwiebler on the ropes at 18-15, with the German seemingly beginning to tire. Unexpectedly, Zwiebler found a second wind and finished off Evans with a baseline cross shot and lob.
So, disappointment for the Irishman. But at 20 years of age, and knocking on the door of the top 40 in the world, his time will come. He has long signalled that his ultimate goal is a medal at the London Games, in 2012. Today’s experience will stand to him.
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