BADMINTON: The Russians are the ones to watch. Fielding eight athletes in the badminton tournament of the Games, they are, according to Irish officials at the tournament, "deadly".
About 200 badminton matches will be played before medals are awarded at the National Badminton centre in Baldoyle, Dublin.
One of the Russian team's three coaches, Ms Olga Moukhina, said yesterday her only concern was that the "divisioning" - or seeding - phase may result in their having to play against each other when the tournament "proper" starts with men's singles this morning.
The Russian team has four men and four women on it.
"We would like to play other countries," she said. "All our players are stars but we are very proud of Lidia \ and Ekaterina \."
Lidia is described by Declan McGinn, the badminton sports commissioner - i.e. in charge of the badminton tournament - as "really brilliant".
The 22-year-old plays with just one arm, the right hand side of her body being almost completely paralysed, and rarely misses a shot, with strong technique in serving and volleys.
Some 24 countries are taking part with 120 athletes in badminton, four of them from Ireland. Until now a little-played sport among Irish athletes with intellectual disability, team coach Tony Robinson hopes the Games will prove a springboard for the game into the future.
"This is the first time Ireland has played badminton in the Special Olympics.
"When we realised the Games were coming to Ireland and that badminton was going to be played, we decided to put a team together."
Mr Robinson is a secondary school teacher and a national badminton coach. "So we had the National Games last June and as a result of that four players were picked." They are Colm Brennan, Carmel Hynes, Riobard Lankford and Bernadette Casey.
Bernadette, from the North Circular Road in Dublin, is regarded as one of the bright hopes of Irish Special Olympics badminton, despite having taken up the sport just a little over a year ago.
"I play basketball as well and my coach just asked me if I'd be interested in trying it. It's a tough game, needs a lot more concentration, but I really love it."
Mr Robinson is confident the sport would be available to more athletes in the months and years after the Special Olympics.
