THE Irish men's badminton team bowed out of the Thomas Cup (World Team Championships) in Prague yesterday when they were narrowly beaten 3-2 by Austria in the final round of matches in the group stages.

Irish number one Bruce Topping went closest to picking up a singles tie for the Irish when he took the impressive Jurgen Koch to a third set, but the Lisburn man's challenge faded in the decider which the Austrian took 15-4 to four to wrap up the match.

Neither Michael Watt nor Bustari Eddie could manage a set in their singles matches but the Irish enjoyed a far better time of it in the doubles where two wins put a highly respectable gloss on the overall scoreline. The defeat, however, means that Ireland finish second in Group One from which only Austria go forward to the next round of competition.