Seedings and draws for the World Masters in Birmingham, England are now completed – with nearly eight hundred squash players participating from all over the World. The competition takes place 20-27 July 2012.
Ireland are sending forward a strong group of contenders in the mens section – and Squash supremo Derek Ryan is defending the over 40s World Champions title. He is seeded 1 in this years competition. Derek, Steve Richardson and Graeme Stewart will all compete in this years O40s category.
Another Irish Squash legend Willie Hosey comes back from Canada to compete in the over 55 section (seeded 3) and Irish International Tom Cantwell will try to take the crown in the over 65s section. Meanwhile Ciaran McCoy competes in the Over 35s.
Squash legend Barbara Sanderson defends her title and is seeded 1 in the over 70s section and Laura Mylotte competes in the O35s.
Birmingham University will host the event on their spectacular all-glass courts with Edgbaston Priory, Solihull Arden and West Warwickshire Sports Club all holding matches throughout the week long tournament.
We wish everyone in the competition a great event and hope to see some trophies back in Ireland in July.
Welshman Peter Creed cruised to victory in the Gibraltar Open, winning the inaugural PSA World Tour Challenger 5 event at The Squash Centre in Gibraltar without dropping a game.
The final was a great battle between the reigning Welsh champion and the first-time Irish national champion Arthur Gaskin.
Top seed Creed barely had time to get into his stride in the semi-finals when unseeded Frenchman Johan Bouquet was forced to retire with a shoulder injury after just 11 minutes.
Second seed Gaskin also faced a surprise unseeded semi-final opponent in Daniel West. The 24-year-old from Bristol had caused the biggest upset on the opening day when he ousted fourth-seeded fellow countryman Ben Ford in a five-game 80-minute marathon.
Another 3/2 win in the quarter-finals, however, had perhaps sapped West’s strength for the semis as Gaskin progressed in straight games.
But the Irishman was unable continue his run in the final as 25-year-old Creed, from Caerphilly, maintained his clean sheet in the event by despatching Gaskin 13-11, 11-7, 11-5 in 57 minutes.
“Very happy to come home with my 2nd title,” tweeted Creed later. “Tough match, but fought hard. Win meant a lot with Papa in the crowd!”
The title triumph takes Creed to a career-high world No80 ranking.
Tournament organiser Barry Brindle was also delighted with the event’s success: “This was an excellent tournament, thoroughly enjoyed by all the local, Army, Andalucian and PSA players and supporters and played in an excellent spirit with a perfect balance between fun and professionalism,” said the President of the Gibraltar Squash Association. “All players should be congratulated.
“This is the first time Gibraltar has held a PSA event; it won’t be the last.”
Waters deprives Perry of her 5th Irish Open title
England’s Alison Waters wins the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Squash Open for the second time, proving her injury, which kept her out of the game and tour for a year, is well behind her.
Alison Waters won the Irish Squash Open today against Ireland’s Madeline Perry, coming through all the way from the qualifiers. Alison played flawless squash against Madeline to take the title 3/0, winning the first two games 11/4, 11/4. Making only a handful of errors in the first two games, Alison forced Madeline to play defensively and offered few opportunities to break her momentum. Madeline came out in the 3rd set with renewed energy, and stormed to a 6/1 lead, then led 7/2. She appeared to have found her rhythm at last breaking Waters’ stride. However Waters came back to 8-8. Madeline saved Waters’ first match point at 10/9, as Madeline’s shot shaved the side wall line, millimeters from being out. Alison grabbed her next match point to take the match 12/10 in the end. Alison’s current ranking of 32 in the world will undoubtedly climb when the May rankings are released.
In the men’s final, the no. 1 seed Alister Walker (BOT) took the title in four games, beating the no. 3 seed Alan Clyne. Clyne was the first Scotsman to reach the Irish Open final in 12 years, after a long gap since Peter Nicol’s 2000 win. Having beaten the no. 2 seed in the semi-finals under 24 hours ago in a game lasting 1 hour 52 minutes, Clyne displayed amazing resilience to contest every point with Alister. Alister displayed faultless squash in the first two games, and looked set to win the match. Clyne demonstrated his tenacity and clawed back to 9-9 after a long rally where he retrieved everything that Walker threw at him. Clyne went on to take the 3rd set 11/9. Walker came back strong in the 4th set, and took a 7/1 lead. Despite Clyne’s stamina, Walker took the title winning 11/3.
WOMEN’S FINAL (Q) Alison Waters (ENG) bt (1) Madeline Perry (IRL) 11/4, 11/4, 12/10 (40 mins)
MEN’S FINAL (1) Alister Walker (BOT) bt (3) Alan Clyne (SCO) 11/4, 11/6, 9/11, 11/3 (54 mins)
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Check out this new Squash Video game – perhaps video game fans might become the next generation of professionals with a whole new range of shots.
Congratulations to Arthur Gaskin who clinched the first PSA World Tour title of his career when he beat Pakistan’s Syed Ali Shah Bokhari in the climax of the QSF PSA Challenger, the PSA Challenger 5 squash event at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar.
Arthur bravely battled through six matches in three days to earn his maiden tour title triumph – making his main breakthrough in the semi-finals with a straight games defeat of Ammar Al-Tamimi, the top seed from Kuwait ranked more than 100 places higher.
Schools Squash took place in Sutton LTC with some pictures from the event shown below. Great play by all and everyone involved should be proud of their achievements. We were delighted to see such great numbers and hope that they are all encouraged to continue enjoying Squash. Below are photos of all teams and details of the prize winners.
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The Division 1 Boys and Girls Winners will be put forward to represent Leinster in the All Ireland Schools Finals on 30th March in Dublin. Full details will follow.
We wish them and the schools the best of luck at this event.
The All Schools Finals took place on Friday – April 8th in Lisburn Racquets club. Schools Cup Schedule can be downloaded Results can be downloaded here – Well done to all those Schools that travelled to make the event possible despite some security diversions in place around the M1 that slowed travel times down for the players and supporters travelling North. Thanks in particular to Gareth Brown from Ulster Squash who was the tournament organiser.
The first of two Irish Squash Summer camps took place in Old Belvedere last week. Coach Deirdre Faul took 16 squash campers through their paces for the week in all aspects of mini squash. Brian McNally from Old Belvedere also called in to go through the squash rules and referee area of the game. Friday was pizza and prize giving and Cathy Quinn, Operations Manager with Irish Squash called in to assist. Well done to all and we look forward to welcoming the new junior members to Irish Squash. Photos from the camp left and full report from Deirdre Faul can be viewed here.
We always need extra coaches with availability on weekdays during school hours. Please contact the squash office with details and qualifications on [email protected]
Deirdre Faul is the current Leinster RDO working with schools mainly in South Dublin but looking to expand to all areas. Deirdre can be contacted on 087 6313485 or [email protected].
Development Report – View latest Leinster Development Report Here
Mini Squash is the Squash approved ‘mini’ game suitable for children aged 5 to 11 years. It offers an ideal introduction to the game of squash and is played using specialised equipment. The specialised equipment and learning programme enables children to develop skills in the game of squash and to keep fit whilst having fun. The ideal combination to ensuring that kids enjoy the sport and also lead a healthy lifestyle.
There are three levels, which are traffic light coded – Red, Orange and Green.
These three levels called FUNdation, Improver and PRO and each have individual stages of progression with each stage becoming more challenging.
Check out this impressive battle when Squash was played with wooden rackets – played in what is now Westwood Leopardstown.
