Mulhouse – France
Places 23 – 24
Ireland 2 Botswana 1
1. Arthur Gaskin lost to Alistar Walker
6-11 4-11 4-11
2. Brian Byrne beat Lekgotla Mosope
11-9 11-9 11-8
3. Steve Richardson beat Koketso Ntshebe
11-2 11-8 12-10
Ireland won their final match at the World Team Championships 2-1 against Botswana to finish 23rd place overall, out of 31 nations.
Steve Richardson got the team off to a good start with a straight sets win. It was Richardson’s 7th game in 7 days and his 5th victory in the tournament. The Ballymena man is still going strong at the ripe age of 40.
Arthur Gaskin came up against an inform Alistar Walker, the World number 15 was clinical all the way through the match. It was also Gaskin’s 7th match in a row and fatigue was evident during the match.
In the deciding match Brian Byrne despatched of of his hard hitting opponent in straight games. The Botswana man managed to break strings in 5 rackets during the match!
| 10.00 |  Ireland |
– |  Botswana |
2 – 1 | 23rd/24th playoff | ||||||||||||||
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Mulhouse – France
Places 21 – 24
Ireland 1 Japan 2
1. Arthur Gaskin beat Shinnosuke Tsukue
11-6 12-10 11-4
2. Brian Byrne lost to Yuta Fukui
6-11 7-11 9-11
3. Steve Richardson lost to Ryosei Kobayashi
12-10 5-11 8-11 11-8 6-11
Ireland lost to Japan 2-1 in their penultimate play off match. Arthur Gaskin got Ireland off to a perfect start with a straight sets win.
Brian Byrne went down in 3 games against a player who controlled the rallies well and took advantage of Byrnes sluggish start to the match.
Steve Richardson was playing his 6th match in a row and although he won the opening game in a tie break, it was a tough game. He battled well to get back into the game and levelled the match by winning the 4th set 11-8. There were clear signs of fatigue setting in early in the 5th and his young Japanese opponent seized his opportunities well to wrap up the match 11-6 in the 5th.
Ireland play their final match against Botswana tomorrow. The Africans have World number 15 Alister Walker at 1. Every match is tough at these championships and it’s even harder when the team are unable to rest a player due to Derek Ryan’s injury.
| 14.30 |  Japan |
– | Ireland |
2 – 1 | Round 3 | ||||||||||||||
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Mulhouse – France
Places 17 – 24 Ireland v Switzerland
Ireland 1 Switzerland 2
1. Arthur Gaskin v Nicolas Mueller 10-12 3-11 12-14
2. Brian Byrne v Reiko Peter 9-11 9-11 8-11
3. Steve Richardson v Patrick Miescher 8-11 11-6 11-6
Brian Byrne put in a strong performance in the opening match against Reiko Peter of Switzerland. The game started at a fast pace from the word go and after 2 sets either player could have been 2-0 up. Brian understandably let the pace drop in the 3rd but started to make a come back and placed his Swiss opponent under pressure to the last point.
Arthur Gaskin was next up against World number 18 Nicolas Mueller. Arthur had game balls in the first and third sets. He played to a high standard in those and pushed the Swiss all the way.
Steve Richardson played a best of three as the overall match had been decided already. He won 2-1.
Ireland play Japan tomorrow.
| 14.30 |  Switzerland |
– | Ireland |
2 – 1 | Quarter Final | ||||||||||||||
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Mulhouse – France
Places 17 – 31 Ireland v Kenya
Ireland won comfortably against Kenya today. Arthur Gaskin and Stevie Richardson won in straight sets to seal the win. Brian Byrne went on for a 1 set shoot out as the match was over. He won his game!
Derek Ryan has sustained a back injury and is unlikely to be competing in the remaining matches. There are 3 matches left which will stretch the reserves of the team.
Switzerland are next up for Ireland, this will be a tough match as they have world number 18 Nick Muller playing at 1 for them.
Ireland 3 Kenya 0
1. Arthur Gaskin v Maina Mwangi
11-9 11-7 11-4
2. Brian Byrne v Hartaj Bains
11-7
3. Stevie Richardson v Rajdeep Bains
11-3 11-5 11-8
| 14.30 | Ireland |
– |  Kenya |
ESP 1 | Round 1 | ||
Mulhouse – France
Pool F Ireland v USA
Unfortunatly Ireland just came up short in this deciding matach for the last 16. A superb win by Steve but it was just a bit too for far for Arthur Gaskin and Derek Ryan both losing 3-0. So 3rd place for Ireland in the pool.
Ireland V USA
Stevie Richardson 3 V Dylan Murray 2
CLASSIC…
Like I tell you again and again, it’s in the old pots that ones makes the best soups! As Steve precised, “the VERY old pots, Fram”….
What a match people, what a match! I made myself the pleasure of my tournament, I watched most of the match. And what a treat. For me, this match could be a symbol of the necessity of this competition. There we had a 40 years old, Steve Richardson, who wrote the book, never got a PSA ranking, and has been playing for his country for ever! Against an 18 years old Dylan Murray, who “was lucky” as he stated himself, as Todd Harrity got injured and couldn’t make the team this time. Still a junior…
First game was tough, with a few decisions from the refs that didn’t help the fluidity of the game, but it was split between the two players, and balanced out. Steve came back from 4/9, 7/10 to 10/10 thanks to a few unforced errors from his opponent as well, got himself a game ball at 11/10, but couldn’t transform it, and it’s the Jumping Dylan that takes it, 13/11.
It could have been the end, with a very tired 40 years old. They think it’s all over??? Naaaa. It was just beginning. The Irish, imperial, takes the next two, 6, 6. The fourth is as close as it comes, 4/4, 5/5, 7/7, 9/9, but this time, the American, looking fresher physically, clinches it, 11/9.
And at that point, to be honest, I thought my Stevie was cooked and well done. But amazingly, he stayed in it at the start of the decider, to get ahead in the middle of it, and just kept on making the court bigger and bigger for his young opponent. And completely against age logic, it’s the Irish that prevailed, 11/7…
Amazing, amazing stuff to start my day….
Steve Can I sit down??
You know why I won today? The only reason? Because I never lost against a junior. Not yet….
In the first game, I was down for most of it, and I could have sneaked it, but on my game ball, my mind was not focused enough. But you know, at the end of the day, I have very few winning opportunities left, and I thought I would grab them when one presents itself.
The 5th was so mental, that’s all it was, and it was so close as well… But as one of my team mates told me at 2/2, “there is only one man in the world I would trust completely to win at 2/2, and that’s you.” That’s inspirational…
Blog from Framboise Gommendy
Arthur Gaskin 0 V Christopher Gordon 3
11-3,11-7,11-8
Much better second game from Arthur saw him find his length more consistently and presented him with more opportunities to extend the court for the American. 3-0 but a highly competitive match.
Derek Ryan 0 V Gilly Lane 3
11/9,11/5,13/11
A fantastic game of squash with some incredible racket skills on display kept the large crowd entertained. Derek as you would expect played very well but Gilly came out on top 3/0.
| 11 June 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 11.00 |  U.S.A. |
– | Ireland |
ESP 2 | 2-1 | |||||||||||||
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Mulhouse – France
Pool F Ireland 2v Czech Republic 1
Derek Ryan went down 3-1 in a very close match v Petr Martin, the 24 year old Czech, who is nearly 20yrs younger than Derek. However the experienced irishman pushed him all the way.
Steve just had a superb victory 3-0 in 44 mins.
All down to Arthur!! Even though Arthur is 79 places higher than Ertl, Ertl rested yesterday v the USA so will be fresh so it will be a test for Arthur.
Arthur is 1-o up but just lost the 2nd 11-9.
Arthur 1-2 down in 3rd. 2-2, 4-5 down, Art 7-5 up, 9-6 up, he wins it with some lovely dead lengths 11-6 in 40 min. 2-1 up in games.
4-0 up in 4th game – great start! Czech coming back, 4-3 to Art, 6-4, 7-4 after the Czech complained about the PA putting him off.
8-5. Arthur does it with a match ball at match ball to win the match 3-1.
So this puts Ireland in a match with the USA tomorrow, to decide who goes through to the last 16.
This will be a real test their number 1 Christopher Gordon, who played in the Irish Open in April is world ranked 45, Julian Illingworth curiosly is currently ranked higher at 39 with the number 3 Gilly Lane unranked currently but an experienced player nonetheless.
So a tough ask for the guys but one they will relish!!
Match is on Tuesday at 10am Irish time.
| 10 June 13 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12.00 | Ireland |
– |  Czech Republic |
PDS GC2 | |||||||||||||||
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Mulhouse – France
Pool F Ireland 0 v Germany 3
1. Arthur Gaskin v Simon Rosner
8-11 5-11 6-11
2. Brian Byrne v Raphael Kandra
2-11 10-12 4-11
3. Steve Richardson v Jens Schoor
6-11 11-9 6-11 5-11
Ireland played Germany, the 6th seeds in their opening pool match in Mulhouse France this afternoon.
The Germans started very strongly in each match and showed why they are favourites to top the pool.
Arthur Gaskin played a very high tempo game against the world number 12 Simon Rosner. Gaskin led for most of the first set but Rosner reeled him in to win 11/8 and eventually won the next 2 sets to claim a straight sets win.
Brian Byrne played extremely well in his second set against Raphael Kandra, having 2 game balls but eventually went down 12-10. The German was too accurate in the 3rd and went on to win in straight sets.
Stevie Richardson went down in 4 sets to Jen Schoor. Richardson levelled the match after taking the second set 11-9 and made life difficult for Schoor before the Mönchen Galdbach man wrapped up the match 3-1.
| 15.00 |  Germany |
– | Ireland |
3 – 0 | |||||||||||||||
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Next up for Ireland is the Czech Republic on the centre court at 11am Irish time on Monday morning. This is a must win game to have a chance of claiming the second position in the pool that would enable the team to progress to the last 16 of the event. The other team in Pool F are the USA.
For live streaming of the championships, follow this link
