Ireland enjoyed two podium finishes at the Danish Junior Open, with Aurora McDonnell crowned GU13 champion and Harry Knox third in the BU13.
McDonnell, the recent Finnish Junior Open winner, was on top form all week in Copenhagen, registering a five-match winning run that included two wins over fellow Irish players.
Seeded No.2 for the tournament, the Mount Pleasant teenager defeated Sutton’s Faye Ring [9/16] 3-0 in her opening group match and then picked off her Mount Pleasant clubmate Raghad Aboelela [5/8], also on a 3-0 scoreline, in Saturday’s semi-final.
There were also victories over Danish and Czech Republic opposition before McDonnell got the better of Matylda Sokol, the 9/16 seed from Poland, 3-1 (11-7, 11-6, 3-11, 12-10) in Sunday morning’s final.
Aboelela’s hopes of a podium finish were dashed by a 0-3 (4-11, 1-11, 7-11) loss in her third/fourth place match with Zara Yotova of Bulgaria, who was the week’s No.1 seed.
Ireland also had seventh and eighth-place finishers in the GU13, with Esme Ring defeating Faye Ring 3-0 in their all-Sutton match.
In the BU13, Knox, the Celtic player who won last month’s Spanish Junior Open, finished third at the expense of fellow Irish player Ailong Chen of Mount Pleasant.
After both suffered 0-3 semi-final defeats on Saturday to the event’s No.1 and No.2 seeds, they served up an entertaining all-Ireland Sunday play-off that Knox won 3-0 (12-10, 11-3, 12-10).
Travelling with David Noone, the junior performance coach, and Michael Conroy, the junior development coach, the 21-strong Irish player list included several other high finishers.
Danny Jones came fifth in the BU15, Gabby Curran ninth in the GU15, Zoe Yeomans fifth and Shriya Drawid eighth in the GU17, and Isabel Fallon seventh in the GU19.
