Cavan’s Olympians going for gold
By Gemma Good
From golf to badminton, boxing and rowing, a number of people with links to Cavan and this region are competing and participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, now underway, the Celt can reveal.
Golfer Leona Maguire is the flag bearer for the Breffni county and is teeing up for a great start once golfing gets underway next Wednesday, August 4.
The Ballyconnell woman made history at the weekend after she tallied the lowest round on record with a stunning 61 on the final day of the Amundi Championship.
Maguire played the best golf of her career as she delivered a magnificent final round, catapulting her into a tie for sixth place.
Minjee Lee from Australia topped the leader board.
Maguire birdied her last four holes and carded 10 in total to match the score set by South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim at the same venue in 2014 and equalled by Jeongeun Lee6 on Friday.
Badminton
Over on the badminton court, Vietnamese national Nhat Nguyen, who lived in Belturbet for a time, has won his opening game against Nikula Karunaratne of Sri Lanka 21-16, 21-14.
Nhat went to school in Convent of Mercy Belturbet after moving from Vietnam with his family.
After discovering the Rory O’Moore’s GAA pitch wasn’t for him, Nhat found his niche for badminton in Belturbet’s community hall.
Now living in Dublin, the 20 year old holds an Under-17 Championship gold medal and is a three-time national champion title.
Nhat will face number 10 seed Wang Tzu Wei today (Wednesday) after a well-deserved break yesterday.
Ugandan rower
Ugandan rower Kathleen Noble will be competing against Sanita Purpure this Friday in the Women’s Single Sculls.
Kathleen was born to Irish parents Gerry and Moira Noble, with her mother hailing from Newbliss in County Monaghan.
She grew up in Uganda, representing the country in swimming at the 2012 World Championships in Turkey.
Triathlete
Congratulations have been sent from Ireland across the seas to Tyler Mislawchuk.
Tyler placed 15th for the Canadian Olympic team in the final of the Triathlon.
He is the grandson of Josie and the late Jim Leddy. Jim was originally from Butlersbridge and Josie from Killybandrick in Redhills.
He is son of very proud parents Fred and Eleanor Mislawchuk.
Good pedigree
Peter Brady from Virginia is proud to have bred the stunning eventer ‘Off The Record’. The Irish Sport Horse was sold as a foal to Olympic rider Will Coleman.
‘Off The Record’ will compete in the eventing competition starting this Friday representing team USA. Born in 2009, the horse has steadily been making a name for himself with some good wins.
Doping control
Meanwhile, Sean Crowley from Cornafean has been selected as Station Manager in Doping Control for the boxing tournament in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
This is the third time the Erne Boxing Club’s head coach has been selected to work at the Olympic games, having worked in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.
He commenced his duties a fortnight ago on Wednesday, July 14.