BADMINTON: Liam O’Leary from Dundalk, a member of the Irish badminton squad, is top seed for today’s Autumn Badminton Open in Whitehall Road, Dublin. O’Leary is expected to face the dangerous Tony Stephenson from Lisburn in the semi-finals and then Scott Burnside, another Ulster player, in the men’s final. O’Leary has a score to settle with Stephenson having lost to him in the semi-finals of last weekend’s Munster Open in Cork.
In the women’s singles, Jennie King of Mount Pleasant is seeded to meet Aisling Ryan from Ennis, while for the doubles, King pairs up with Keelin Hogan, where Caroline O’Sullivan and Grace Webster are the No 1 seeds. The men’s doubles should see a repeat of the Munster Open final, where Ulster pair Tony Stephenson and Tony Murphy beat Dan Magee and Niall Tierney from Mount Pleasant. In the mixed doubles, Nigel Boyne and Grace Webster are top seeds but there are another three pairs at least who could cause an upset, among them Dan Magee and Jennie King.
Taking a break this weekend before the upcoming Swiss U-19 International is Jonathan Dolan from Sligo, who won the men’s singles in Cork. Also travelling to Switzerland are O’Leary, Martin Lu, Jonathan Harron, Joshua Magee and David Walsh.
Next month, Dolan will lead a small Irish team at the World Junior Championships in Tokyo, Japan starting on October 25.
SNOOKER: Andrew Doherty from Terenue won both U-16 and U-18 titles at the Stars Academy Dublin U-16 & U/18 Opens in Fairview. In the U-16 competition, Doherty beat Dubliner Darragh Cusack 2-1 for a place in the final where he got the better of Limerick’s Liam Nix.
In the semi-final, Nix had faced Carlow snooker phenomenon Corey Ramsbottom, aged just nine, and only took victory after dropping the first frame. Ramsbottom also progressed to the quarter-finals of the U18 competition, while 10-year-old Aaron Goldrick made the last 16 in both age groups. Two young talents to watch!
Doherty had made smooth progress though the early rounds and in a tactical final, with lots of safety play, beat Charlie Sweeney from Newbridge CYMS 2-1.
SQUASH: Ireland’s Aisling Blake moved up to No 23 on the women’s world squash ranking after making the quarter-finals of both the Tournament of the Pyramids in Egypt and the Squash on Fire tournament in Washington DC, USA, over the summer. After taking a break, Blake is now back at No 25. Holding her place at No 5 is Irish No 1 Madeline Perry, who has been on the international circuit for well over a decade and most recently made the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the quarter-finals of the Matamata Open in New Zealand.
Over the summer, Ireland picked up four medals at the World Masters Squash Championships in Birmingham. Taking gold were squash legend Willie Hosey, winner of the M50 title, and Barbara Sanderson who successfully defended her W70 title. Derek Ryan, another undisputed squash legend, took M40 bronze after a thrilling 91 minute play-off match. Irish international player Laura Mylotte, bronze medal winner in the W35 grade, is already aiming for better next time. A team of 23 Irish joined 800 players from 43 countries.
TRIATHLON: After the disappointment of London 2012, Aileen Morrison made a successful return to racing when she finished a close fifth at the final French GP Series race in Nice. Morrison completed the sprint course in 1hr 44secs, helping her professional team, Poissy Tri to victory.
In the men’s race, Bryan Keane, riding for the Baie De Somme team, finished 31st – just 90 seconds behind British winner Jonny Brownlee.
At Ironman Wales in Tenby, Irish Ironwoman Eimear Mullen finished second in a time of just over 10 hours – a personal best in only her second effort over the distance. Rory Maguire clocked a time of 9 hrs 50 mins 53 secs to finish ninth in the over 30 age group, while Nicholas McCabe from Midland Tri Club was fifth M60.
With two events to go, Cork veteran Trevor Woods is leading Triathlon Ireland’s National Series rankings. Shane Scully from Nenagh and Bryan McCrystal of Setanta are the next two on the men’s list.
Vanessa Fenton of Dublin club, 3D Tri, tops the women’s table, followed by Limerick’s Andree Walkin, third at last weekend’s Pulse Sprint at Clogherhead, and Predator’s Anna Crooks. Today’s Blacksod Challenge in Co Mayo and the Mourne Triathlon in Castlewellan next weekend are the remaining races.
CANOEING: For a 54th time, canoes and kayaks of all shapes and sizes will take to the swollen waters of the river Liffey next Saturday for the annual Liffey Descent. After they set off from the K club at Straffan, the paddlers face a daunting 18-mile challenge, taking in 10 weirs, an overgrown stretch of water called “the jungle”, a portage where you take your boat off the water and run with it, and and a set of rapids. This year, for the first time, the race finishes at Garda Boat Club in Islandbridge, with the fastest boats due at around 2.30pm. Last year’s K2 champions were Peter Egan and Neil Fleming; Egan this weekend finished 17th at the Canoe Marathon World Championships in Rome only 4.45mins off the winner over 30km.
HOCKEY: Ireland’s women’s hockey team plays a warm-up game against Australia today (Sun) in UCD (2pm). The match is a last outing for the team before the Electric Ireland FIH Champions Challenge I starting at UCD on September 29 and continuing until October 7.
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