Ireland take on England

The Badminton Union of Ireland begin their centenary celebrations tonight with an international match against England at Terenure.

The Irish team includes the Topping brothers Bruce and Mark, whose good form brought them to the final of the men's doubles in the Welsh Open last month, and the mixed doubles partnership of Donal O'Halloran and Elaine Kiely, who also reached the final at the same event. Irish Open finalist Sonya McGinn has reached a best-ever world ranking of 37th and her singles match has already attracted a sell-out crowd of 500.

Unfortunately for the English manager Steven Bradley, many of his top players are unavailable.