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©INPHO/Presseye/William Cherry
London 2012

London 2012: Chloe Magee lays down a marker

Donegal’s Chloe Magee had a straight-sets win in her opening match of the women’s badminton singles.

BADMINTON HOPEFUL CHLOE MAGEE moved to within touching distance of a place in the last 16 with a winning start in the women’s singles tonight.

Ranked 44th in the world, Magee opened her Olympic campaign with a straight sets victory against Hadia Hosny of Egypt.

After an evenly matched opening exchange the Raphoe native outlasted Hosny, ranked 113th, to take the first set 21-17.

Once ahead, Magee never looked back in the second set and raced into a commanding lead before closing out a 21-6 win.

The result sets up a potential winner-take-all showdown against group favourite Hongyan Pi of France on Tuesday afternoon.

Seeded 16th and ranked 25th in the world, Pi will be a firm favourite to prevail when she meets Hosny in Group I’s second match tomorrow.

With only one of the three set to progress to the last 16, Magee may need a minor upset on Tuesday if she is to extend her campaign into the latter stages of next week.