Scott Gillanders wins the Luxembourg Junior Open U13 event having beaten Peter Devald 11-1, 9-11, 11-2, 11-7 in the final. Scott won his 3 previous rounds in straight sets in a very convincing manner.

Nikita Gileveskiy was runner up in U17 event losing to Noam Peer 11-5, 11-5, 11-6. Nikita was the number 3 seed, beating the number 2 seed Kristof Konecsni 11-3, 11-6, 11-4 in the semi final which was asuperb result for Nikita.

For full details on the Luxembourg Open see here

http://esf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=F93C9182-44C8-4FF0-8CAC-96938B47DD08

World Squash Federation President N Ramachandran has praised the Xodus 7 Continent Challenge as an initiative of ‘epic proportions’ and one which has given the sport’s Olympic bid a great boost.

Peter Nicol MBE and fellow former professional Tim Garner launched the Xodus 7 Continent Challenge in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands on the edge of Antarctica just over a week ago – then traversed the globe via Santiago in Chile; Sydney in Australia; Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; Cairo in Egypt; and London in England before reaching the climax of their bid to contest 7 Squash Matches in 7 Days on 7 Continents to raise the profile of Squash’s campaign to join the programme of the 2020 Olympic Games in Connecticut in the USA on Saturday.

“DONE!” tweeted Garner after the intrepid pair rounded off their mission at the new 12-court Chelsea Piers Club in Stamford, where Nicol edged to a 4/3 series victory in the squash challenge – after seven matches, 32 games and more than six hours of playing time!

“70 hours on airplanes, 40,000 miles of travelling and seven matches completed.  It’s been an incredible week!”

President Ramachandran is full of admiration of the pair’s efforts:  “Both Peter and Tim have already made significant contributions to the sport – Peter as a former world champion and world number one and Tim as director of major events like the British Open, World Series Finals and Canary Wharf Classic.

“But this went beyond the call of duty – it was an extraordinary pioneering mission of epic proportions which has caught the imagination of sports enthusiasts the world over and has done much to boost our Olympic bid.”

Garner, a former world No26, later commented:  “We set out on Xodus 7 Continent Challenge to help highlight the profile of the 2020 bid and raise some money for two worthy causes.  I think it did just that – and more, as each and every venue had pushed the boat to make their event special and in doing so did much for squash in their community.

“It has been a tough challenge, but I am pleased that we both managed to come through it relatively unscathed, though it may take a few days to recover as the muscles and bones are feeling a little weary!

“It was great to spend a week with one of my best friends – who, fittingly, I met through squash – though it was annoying to lose to him in the decider!”

On the journey back to London, Nicol added:  “As we set off on this incredible journey, I was apprehensive for several reasons but also hugely excited. From landing in the Falklands all the way through to Stamford, CT, we were wonderfully surprised with the reaction from local squash players, the media and, to be perfectly honest, by our bodies to playing.  We both expected to find the squash the hardest aspect of the tour but were delighted to find out that we were still capable of playing to a decent standard over the course of seven days.

“Tim and I both feel squash deserves a chance to be in the Olympics and if our Challenge helps in any way, then it’s been very worthwhile.  We are also proud to have raised significant funds for both our official charities and for each of the local venue charities as well.

“Personally I would like to thank Tim for conceptualising, planning and executing the Xodus 7 Continent Challenge. He has served squash tremendously well now for 20 years in all different capacities and deserves great credit for what he does for the sport, most of which goes unnoticed.  I also really enjoyed spending time with one of my best friends on an unforgettable journey.  To win the deciding match was rather pleasing as well!!”

As well as profiling the Olympic Bid, the Xodus 7 Continent Challenge has raised monies for two squash causes: The first the LV= SOS Kit Aid Scheme, and the second Natasha’s Steps, a trust set up help young squash player Natasha Drake who is recovering from an idiopathic bleed on her brain.

Follow Squash’s 2020 Olympic campaign on Twitter at @Vote4Squash and Like the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BackTheBid2020

Read Garner’s daily Xodus 7 Continent Challenge blogs on http://squash2020.com/

World Squash Federation President N Ramachandran has praised the Xodus 7 Continent Challenge as an initiative of ‘epic proportions’ and one which has given the sport’s Olympic bid a great boost.

Peter Nicol MBE and fellow former professional Tim Garner launched the Xodus 7 Continent Challenge in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands on the edge of Antarctica just over a week ago – then traversed the globe via Santiago in Chile; Sydney in Australia; Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; Cairo in Egypt; and London in England before reaching the climax of their bid to contest 7 Squash Matches in 7 Days on 7 Continents to raise the profile of Squash’s campaign to join the programme of the 2020 Olympic Games in Connecticut in the USA on Saturday.

“DONE!” tweeted Garner after the intrepid pair rounded off their mission at the new 12-court Chelsea Piers Club in Stamford, where Nicol edged to a 4/3 series victory in the squash challenge – after seven matches, 32 games and more than six hours of playing time!

“70 hours on airplanes, 40,000 miles of travelling and seven matches completed.  It’s been an incredible week!”

President Ramachandran is full of admiration of the pair’s efforts:  “Both Peter and Tim have already made significant contributions to the sport – Peter as a former world champion and world number one and Tim as director of major events like the British Open, World Series Finals and Canary Wharf Classic.

“But this went beyond the call of duty – it was an extraordinary pioneering mission of epic proportions which has caught the imagination of sports enthusiasts the world over and has done much to boost our Olympic bid.”

Garner, a former world No26, later commented:  “We set out on Xodus 7 Continent Challenge to help highlight the profile of the 2020 bid and raise some money for two worthy causes.  I think it did just that – and more, as each and every venue had pushed the boat to make their event special and in doing so did much for squash in their community.

“It has been a tough challenge, but I am pleased that we both managed to come through it relatively unscathed, though it may take a few days to recover as the muscles and bones are feeling a little weary!

“It was great to spend a week with one of my best friends – who, fittingly, I met through squash – though it was annoying to lose to him in the decider!”

On the journey back to London, Nicol added:  “As we set off on this incredible journey, I was apprehensive for several reasons but also hugely excited. From landing in the Falklands all the way through to Stamford, CT, we were wonderfully surprised with the reaction from local squash players, the media and, to be perfectly honest, by our bodies to playing.  We both expected to find the squash the hardest aspect of the tour but were delighted to find out that we were still capable of playing to a decent standard over the course of seven days.

“Tim and I both feel squash deserves a chance to be in the Olympics and if our Challenge helps in any way, then it’s been very worthwhile.  We are also proud to have raised significant funds for both our official charities and for each of the local venue charities as well.

“Personally I would like to thank Tim for conceptualising, planning and executing the Xodus 7 Continent Challenge. He has served squash tremendously well now for 20 years in all different capacities and deserves great credit for what he does for the sport, most of which goes unnoticed.  I also really enjoyed spending time with one of my best friends on an unforgettable journey.  To win the deciding match was rather pleasing as well!!”

As well as profiling the Olympic Bid, the Xodus 7 Continent Challenge has raised monies for two squash causes: The first the LV= SOS Kit Aid Scheme, and the second Natasha’s Steps, a trust set up help young squash player Natasha Drake who is recovering from an idiopathic bleed on her brain.

Follow Squash’s 2020 Olympic campaign on Twitter at @Vote4Squash and Like the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BackTheBid2020

Read Garner’s daily Xodus 7 Continent Challenge blogs on http://squash2020.com/

With less than 24 hours to go, Dublin Squash fans are looking forward to the ninth edition of the Canon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2013. As always, there’s both a ladies’ and men’s 16 player draw, each boasting a €15k prize fund. What makes this year’s edition a little more special is that there will be some live online streaming from Thursday onwards on aertv.ie. This service is completely free, so why not tune in and enjoy some expert commentary and analysis! Suffice to say, entry to all matches at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club is also free.

The main draw action begins on Wednesday and we’ll take a closer look at the draws on Tuesday. Before that, there are sixteen men and women who are fighting for the eight (four in each) qualifying spots available. There’s plenty of Irish players playing in the qualifying:

Griffin Gillanders, Stephanie Ryan, Fiona Powers and Ciara Moloney in the women’s draw, and Sean Conroy, Oisin Logan, David Ryan and Michael Craig in the men’s draw. This is a great opportunity for Irish talents to measure themselves against professional Squash players, and while it’s rare to see local players upsetting seasoned professionals, one never knows what an impact playing “at home” will have!

But apart from our Irish hopefuls playing tomorrow, there’ll be plenty of other matches, too. All professional players in the qualifying draws will have travelled to Dublin with only thing goal in mind: reaching the main draw! To do so they have to win two matches in a row, and you can count on plenty of intensity in these matches. The main reason being is that only in the main draw do players receive prize money, losing in the qualifying draw will “only” earn them some points for their world ranking. The highest ranked female player in the qualifying draw is Swiss number one Gaby Huber (world ranking 50), while Malaysian Ivan Yuen (world ranking 73) is the top male qualifier.

So, best of luck to our Irish players, and we look forward to seeing you at Fitzwilliam, or if you can’t make it, online at aertv.ie from Thursday onwards! – Dan Zilic

The Canon Kirk Homes – Irish Open 2013 takes place between Monday 22nd April and Saturday 27th April in Fitzwilliam LTC. The qualifying takes place on Monday and Tuesday 22nd & 23rd. the draw for the qualifying rounds take place on Sunday 21st.

In the PSA (Men’s) event the number 1 seed is Chris Simpson (Eng) who is current World No. 29. Round 1 commences on Wednesday 24th April at 2:00 and play continues until 9:00pm.

There are 16 players in the main draw with the Irish No.1 Arthur Gaskin playing Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (Egy) in round 1. Mohd is currently ranked 39th so this should prove a stern test for Arthur.

• PSA Main Draw
• PSA Qualifying Draw
• WSA Main Draw & Qualifying Draw

The Women’s event is being played along with the Men’s. The matches are being played alternately. The Irish No.1 Madeleine Perry is the no. 1 seed and is currently World No. 11. Aisling Blake the new Irish Champion is seeded 3. Her current World ranking is 23.

This year from the quarter finals until the finals all matches will be shown live on the internet via the Irish online TV service Aertv. If you can’t com along to see all of the matches – tune into www.aertv.ie and watch top quality professional squash online.

However – the best place to see the matches of course is in person at Fitzwilliam. Admission is free – and visitors are sure to witness some spectacular Squash.

For a preview of this year’s event on Squash Site by Arthur Curran please see HERE – Dan Zilic’s qualifying preview HERE

Results from Treacy’s Pharmacy Mayo Junior Squash Open held on Sunday April 14^th in Claremorris and Ballinrobe.

Girls U-11 A section

Championship Winner Aoibhe O Malley,Championship R-up Sadhbh Culhane

Plate winnerMarie Whicham,Plate R-up Lauren Fahy

Girls U-11 B Section

Championship WinnerLeah Hunt,Championship R-upAbbey Jennings

Boys U-13 Section

Championship WinnerDomhnaill Roe,Championship R-upMark Walsh

Plate WinnerAdam Barrett, Plate R-upOwen Gilraine

Girls U-13 Section

Championship WinnerNacoimh Jordan, Championship R-upClodagh Healy

Plate WinnerEmily Boyle,Plate R-up Sophie Raftery

Boys U-15 Section

Championship WinnerOran O Malley,Championship R-upLiam Foody

Plate WinnerRyan Hobson,Plate R-upRory Jennings

Girls U-15 Section

Championship WinnerRachel Walsh,Championship R-up Sorcha Hobson

Plate WinnerAoife Delargy,Plate R-upRoisin Collins

Masters’ Squash

Masters Interprovincial Championships 2013:

This tournament was run-off at Highfield and Sunday’s Well on Friday & Saturday 12th/13th April. There were some very close ties and all provinces had opportunities to win their events. Many thanks to the clubs for their help in staging this season’s championships and to Masters’ Secretary Martin McDonnell and Tournament Director, Eamonn O’Keeffe for organising another very successful tournament. 

Ulster won the Ladies Over 40 and Over 50  with Leinster runners up in both. Ulster Won the Mens Over 45 again with Leinster  Runners up. Great competition in this event with Munster losing narrowly 3 2 to both Ulster and Leinster . and Ulster beating Leinster 3 2 in the decider. Mens Over 55 was won by Connacht who stopped Munster from completing four in a row . A great win for Pat Hanley over Donal Coughlan levelled the match at 2 all   Alf Kavanagh played the decider against Michael Conlon and saved 2 match balls in the 3rd and again in the 4th. Alf won the 5th to secure an historic win for Connacht. Mens Over 65 was won by Leinster ( Ciaran Roche, Seamus Daly and   Colm Andrews)  with Munster runners up.

Leinster O45 Team Pipped at the Post  (by Tom Crowe)

First up was Connacht on Friday night, and Leinster registered a straight sets victory over the Westerners. Meanwhile, Munster and Ulster were battling hard for a first round victory which went down to the final hard fought match between George Hewitt (Ulster) and Tony Maher (Munster), with George Hewitt winning out on a 3-2 scoreline.

Leinster faced their southern opponents first thing on Saturday morning and when Karam Singh and Tom Crowe won the first two matches, the team were well set up for victory. Eddie Murphy (Munster) proved too strong for Dave Flynn at number one but the deal was sealed when Dave Borton(Leinster) had a superb victory over Kevin O Rourke (3-0). This was an impressive showing by Dave Borton who seemed to have the stronger hand all through, impressively volleying any wayward shots by his opponent and never letting up even when approaching the finishing line in the third game. In the final game, Kevin Ronan (Leinster) fought gamely but was ultimately beaten by the shot making and experience of Tony Maher (3-1).

So it was all down to the final match-up between Leinster and Ulster for the honours. Karam Singh (Leinster) started proceedings with a capable (3-0) victory in the first match. Tom Crowe was next up for Leinster against John Mc Keagh. John won the first set exhibiting some deep drives into the back corners. Tom came back and won the second with some more assertive drives to the back mixed with some good drops to the front. The Ulster man appeared to be tiring at this stage. Not to be, however, because victory was sealed for Ulster in this match with John winning the next two hard fought matches. One-all and all to play for. Dave Flynn(Leinster) matched up against Shaun McKee in the third match and from the get-go, seemed to struggle with the  pace put on the ball by Shaun who continually drove hard and low to the side walls near the back corners. The Ulster man won the first two games convincingly and a 3-0 score seemed on the cards. But credit to Dave Flynn who upped his game and pulled one back in the third. A determined push  by Shaun in the last, saw him get through to a 3-1 win. The next match between Dave Borton and Mike Ellis was eagerly anticipated, especially as Mike Ellis had a very good win over Kevin O Rourke the night before. But Dave Borton continued the impressive form of earlier matches and executed his game plan extremely well, not giving his opponent any opportunity to showcase his deft back-hand drop and dealing very comfortable with the high lobbing game of the Ulster man. Dave secured a 3-0 victory and with the score in matches now at 2-2, it was all down to the final battle between Kevin Ronan (Leinster) and George Hewitt. The form book didn’t favour Kevin as he had lost to Tony Maher on a 3-1  score-line and George had beaten the same player 3-2. And so it proved to be – Kevin as always and to his credit, gave it everything he had but the Ulster man proved too strong, registering a win and the Interpro honours.

Congrats to Ulster and well done to Leinster who came so close.

OVERALL RESULTS

LADIES

Over 40 – Winner Ulster/Runner Up Leinster

Over 50 – Winner Ulster/Runner Up Leinster

MENS

Over 45 – Winner Ulster/Runner Up Leinster

Over 55 – Winner Connacht/Runner Up Munster

Over 65 – Winner Leinster/Runner Up Munster

Panels in Alphbetical order

Munster
Men’s over 45
J.Dineen.   T.Maher.  E.Murphy.  C.O’Neill.  K.O’Rourke  B.O’Sullivan.  G.Wales.

Men’s Over 55
M.Conlon.  D.Coughlan. H.Laaksonen. D.MC Carthy.  M.McDonnell.  J.MC Sweeney.  M.Mulhall.  J.O Callaghan.  E.O’Keeffe . N.O’Sullivan

Men’s Over 65
J.Donovan.  N.Murphy.  T.Murphy.  B.Ryan.  J. Whelan.

Ladies Over 40
M. Collins.  C.Cullen.  C.Jones.  D.Reardon. A.N Other.

Ladies Over 50
A.Grey.  E.Healy.  B.Murray.  C.O’Sullivan.  D.Reardon.

Ulster
Men’s Over 45
M.Ellis.  G.Hewitt.  D.Lorimour.  P.McCrisken.  S.McKee.  A.N.Other.

Men’s Over 55
B.Burke.  J.Campbell.  S.Campbell.  D.Connory.  D.Early. R.McIlroy.

Men’s Over 65
H.Cullen.  C.Gilmore.   J.MCBRide.  M.Evans.

Ladies Over 40
S. Abernathy.  C.Coyle.  M.Jackson.

Ladies Over 50
R.Coates.  M. Shannon. L.Tavakoli.

Leinster
Men’s Over 45
D.Flynn.  K .Ronan.  D.Borton.  J.Flynn.  T.Crowe. A.N.Other.

Men’s Over 55
G. Delaney.  C.Mallon.  A. O’Connor.  J.Dowley.  A.N.Other.  A.N.Other.

Men’s Over 65
C.Andrews.  S.Daly.   C.Roche.

Ladies Over 40
J.Dillon.  R.Barry.  J.Murphy.

Ladies Over 50
A.Costelloe.  C.Lowry. C.Mooney.

Connacht
Men’s Over 45
D.Lalor.  P.Murphy.  K.Padden.  A.Power.  T.Treacy.

Men’s Over 55
M.Cowley.  G.Fahy.  A.Kavanagh.  J. Kielty.  A.Larkin.  T.J.Mullins.

Mens Over 65
T.Cantwell.  F.Fahy. M.J.Hynes.  A.N.Other

The All-Ireland Schools Cup Finals took place on Friday 12th April in Sutton LTC. There were 19 schools from all 4 provinces in 6 sections

Boys Under 13/Boys Under 15/ Boys Under17/Boys Under 19

Girls Under 15/Girls Under 17

Thanks for a fantastic day of Squash. There was a total of 19 teams playing in 6 sections, Boys U/13, U/15, U/17, U/19 Girls U/15 & U/17 with a total of 72 match played from 9.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. Sutton LTC hosted the event and we would like to thank them for giving the use of their club.

It was a pleasure to run the All Ireland Squash Schools Final once again and all schools should be very proud of their students behaviour and sportsmanship both on and off court. It was great to see so many new faces alongside the well known players and we would hope that they are encouraged to progress to play in more events throughout Ireland in the future. Thanks to the teachers and parents for their help and patience and congratulations to all the prize winners.

Gerry Connaughton/Suzanne Ryan/ Eoin Ryan
Results

U/13 Boys

Winners: St Fintans NS (Leinster)   Runners-Up: Ballon NS  (Leinster)
U/15 Boys

Winners: St Fintans Highschool (Leinster) Runners-Up: Regent House (Ulster)
U/17 Boys

Winners: St Fintans Highschool (Leinster) Runners-Up: Methodist College (Ulster)

U/19 Boys

Winners: Campbell College (Ulster)  Runners-Up: Belvedere College (Leinster)
U/15 Girls

Winners: Santa Sabina (Leinster)   Runners-Up: Gaelcholáiste Ceatharlach  (Leinster)
U/17 Girls

Winners: Coláiste Iognáid (Connacht)  Runners-Up: Mount St Michael (Connacht)

 Very well done to all players who participated in the competition

Thanks to Gerry Connaughton, Suzanne Ryan. Eoin Ryan & Gerry Delaney for organising the event. Thank you also to the teachers, coaches and parents for their support and help in running the event.

WELL DONE AGAIN TO ALL THE SCHOOLS!!

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