Fitzwilliam LTC will host an exhibition match between Ireland’s Derek Ryan and Australia’s Craig Rowland on Tuesday August 14th at 19:30. Tickets for the event cost €10 and are available through Martyn Evans Sports or on the night.

Come along and support Derek and enjoy some super squash. This will be a great match with some excellent games to enjoy. The comparisons between both players is quite unique as they each reached a high of number 7 in the World during their professional careers. Craig recently won the World Masters in Birmingham a title Derek had won 2 years previously!

Munster Men

1/ John Hurley up 1
2/ Kevin Knox down 1
3/ Donal Carroll no change
4/ Dermot McNamara no change
5/ Conor O’Donoghue no change
6/ Ken O’Keeffe up 3
7/ Clive Morgan no change
8/ Jaime Balbuena new entry
9/ David Knox down 3
10/ Martin J. McDonnell down 2

Ulster Men

Connaught Men

Leinster

Ireland scooped up 4 medals at the recent World Masters Squash tournament held in Birmingham. In a spectacular event with nearly 800 athletes from 43 countries it was a fantastic tournament enjoyed by everyone and a showcase for Squash just before the Olympics.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the event (over 23 Irish players in total) and we hope to see an even greater entry for the next World Masters Tournament which will be held in Hong Kong in 2014.

• Squash legend Willie Hosey won Gold to become the Mens O50 World Champion
• Barbara Sanderson won Gold and was crowned Womens Over 70s World Champion successfully defending her title. We look forward to her completing the hat-trick in Hong Kong in 2014!
• Laura Mylotte won Bronze in the Women’s O35 event.
• Derek Ryan won Bronze in Mens O40s event.

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Report from Laura Mylotte

Winning a bronze medal was somewhat a bitter-sweet experience for me! Seeded 3/4 going into the event, I had ambitions of reaching the final and played well in my first couple of matches against a local Edgbaston player Sarah Roberton in my first round and again against Carola Weiss, who had shocked a 5/8 seed in the previous round with a convincing 3/0 win. I convincingly won the quarter final although I had to work hard to ensure a 3/0 victory. However, in the semi final against Wendy Maitland from Scotland, I did not perform well, not settling to the different conditions of the glass court. Unable to find anything close to my form of the first couple of rounds and with Wendy on top of her game, she quickly raced to a 2-0 lead, although only narrowly winning the 2^nd 11/9. With nothing to lose going into the third I took the 3^rd game comfortably and it looked like a similar situation in the 4^th for a four point lead mid game. Unfortunately though a couple of lose shots and a few great winners from Wendy took her to match ball. Having saved the first match ball and taking the game to a tie break I lost the 4^th 12-10.

Having been last match on the Thursday evening, it was by chance that I realised I would have a playoff for the Bronze medal the following morning, something I was not too keen on straight after my evening’s disappointment. The match was scheduled for 11.20am the next morning. There was a long delay before the bronze medal match, as my Irish compatriot was doing battle on my allocated court in a very tense and exciting match. Derek won bronze after a thrilling 91 minute match. Surely, I had to take a leaf out of his book and get another medal for Ireland!

I faced Karen Meakins, from Barbados. Originally from Luton, Karen has been Barbados champion for 12 consecutive years and still competes in some small WSA tournaments on that side of the world. I raised my game considerably from the night before and despite a slight lapse of concentration in the 2^nd game, allowing Karen to draw level at 1-1, I raised my game again and took the bronze winning the 3^rd and 4^th game well.

It is the first time I have ever won a bronze world medal, so a great result really, but on another day it might well have been a different colour! There is always next time!

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Image of the exhibition court in Birmingham University prior to the start of the Tournament on Sunday.

A total of 23 players from Ireland are competing in the event!

Ed Dunne, President Irish Squash

Welcome

On behalf of Irish Squash I would like to welcome you to our new website where we aim to provide you with up to date information on events, teams and individual players throughout the season.  If you would like to contribute to the website please do so by e-mailing [email protected].  Members of  The Board have set goals this year amongst which are Development of the game and Fundraising.

Development includes increasing the overall number of players playing squash in Ireland, improving the standard of the existing players through coaching and supporting our top players as they compete internationally.   With the appointment of Hadrian Stiff (one of the World’s top coaches) I am confident that our junior and senior teams are in good hands.  Hadrian outlined a 3 – 5 year plan recently at our AGM where many of these areas were covered.  Another aspect of the development of the game is raising the standard of and supporting our coaches through coaching courses and seminars delivered by experienced and qualified coaches in conjunction with Coaching Ireland.

Fundraising is a major focus for Irish Squash, as the funding from The Sports Council is set to decrease for the next few years we are in need of more support to maintain our plan.  Last year we successfully auctioned off sports memorabilia at The Irish Squash National’s and had a draw for some excellent prizes including tickets for The British Open Squash and tickets for Wimbledon.  Irish Squash will be looking at innovative ideas to raise more funds and sponsorship for our game.

Finally I would like to wish all of our members the best of luck throughout the season and I look forward to meeting with as many of you as I can.

Yours in sport

Ed Dunne

President Irish Squash

Fancy winning this fantastic Dunlop Squash Racket? Just take a few moments to complete the following short survey and enter our competition:

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Irish Squash survey and competition.

The next Irish Squash Club Coaching course will take place in Carlow on the following dates

• July 29th
• September 1st and 2nd
• October 6th and 7th

The course will commence at 9:30 and run until 5:00pm each day – please arrive from 9:00am to register and complete paperwork.

This programme requires you to work with a support coach for the logged practice requirement element of the course. Please talk to Irish Squash or your local coach about help and support in this area. You should also talk to the club or squash centre you plan to provide the coaching in after you have finished the course. Please also read through the following prior to attending the course.

Payment for the course must be received before the start of the course.

Any queries please e-mail the Irish Squash office.

Congratulations to Ireland’s Aisling Blake who moves up four places to World No. 23 after a series of great results. Aisling is currently based in Amsterdam but is a regular visitor back to Ireland and we look forward to seeing her at the next Irish tournament.

Below is current ladies World Rankings: