Scott Evans to play for Ireland one last time

Ireland’s Scott Evans has announced that he is retiring from international badminton.  His last event will be the European Men’s Team Championship in Kazan, Russia next week.

“After 15 years as a professional badminton player, with 3 Olympic games and a ton of amazing memories, I am officially retiring from international badminton,” Evans posted to his Facebook page.  “Finishing my international career representing Ireland is a great way to end. This has been an extremely difficult decision and one I have thought long and hard about for quite some time. My desire to continue training 100% has not been the same this last while and without that I know my level will not be at its best.”

Scott Evans had a career-high men’s singles ranking of 23rd in the world and while this has dropped significantly over the past year, he had some very competitive matches last year with current and former top ten players, losing an incredibly close one to Shi Yuqi at the Worlds and beating Nguyen Tien Minh in France.  Evans also teamed up with Sweden’s Amanda Hogstrom to reach his first ever mixed doubles final, shortly before his 30th birthday at the Belgian International last autumn.

Evans reached the final of his home Irish Open a total of three times, winning the title in 2012.  He was featured in a player spotlight on Badzine just over 10 years ago, a month after reaching the semis at home for the first time.  Two of his most memorable results happened in Brazil, as he won his only Grand Prix title there in 2014 and two years later returned to reach the round of 16 at the Rio Olympics.

“My future will continue in badminton where I will be teaming up with a former player in an exciting new project, which I will talk more about in the coming weeks!” Evans added about his future plans.

We at Badzine wish Scott Evans all the best in the next chapter of his career.

Photo: Yves Lacroix / Badmintonphoto