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| Madeline Perry |
Update: Aisling Blake ended Madeline Perry’s 14-year reign as Irish women’s squash champion at Fitzwilliam on Sunday afternoon.
BADMINTON: Chloe Magee proved best of the Irish at the All-England Badminton Championships in Birmingham winning her opening round match in the qualifying tournament for the women’s singles.
In a 50-minute marathon, Magee had lost the opening set 17-21 in her match with Karina Jorgensen of Denmark. She then clawed her way back into contention by winning the second set 21-15 and then closed out the match 21-18 in the third. In the second round, she faced Sayaka Takahashi, an attacking left-hander from Japan, and lost a high-energy match in straight sets.
Scott Evans, in action against Malaysian Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif in his opening match, started well by winning the opening set. The Malaysian then took command of the game and ran out a 2-1 winner.
In the opening round of the mixed doubles, Sam and Chloe Magee took a set off former world No 2 Vita Marissa and her new partner Praveen Jordan of Indonesia and although they fought hard for every point, went out 1-2.
* At the Dutch Junior International in Harlem, Jonathan Dolan and David Walsh made it into the last 16 of the men’s doubles where they lost to eventual winners Khek Wei Chua and Mun Choon Woon from Malaysia.
* In Baldoyle, Alannah Stephenson and Norman Lau won the singles titles at the Irish U17 National Championships.
TABLE TENNIS: Paul McCreery finally nailed down his first Irish senior table tennis title when he beat Gavin Maguire in a thrilling men’s final at the Irish Senior Table Tennis Championships in the Alsaa, Dublin Airport.
Maguire who had beaten defending champion John Murphy in the semi-finals, made a good start to take the opening set , but McCreeery showed his mettle when he came from 3-7 down to win the second and even the score. In the third, the score went to 14-12 with McCreery the winner. He then took the next two sets and with it a long overdue title. On a dream weekend, the Ulster player won every competition he played in, pairing up with John Murphy to win the men’s doubles and with Amanda Mogey for the mixed doubles.
In the women’s competition, Ashley Given took her third senior singles title, beating Amanda Mogey 4-1 in the final, and teamed up with Mogey to win the doubles.
Another double winner was wheelchair champion Ronan Rooney, who got the better of John Dempsey in the singles and took the doubles with Philip Quinlan.
SQUASH: Madeline Perry is top seed for this weekend’s Irish Women’s National Championships at Fitzwilliam in Dublin. The competition was deferred from last December when the Irish women were playing in the World Team Championships. Perry is seeded to face fellow international Aisling Blake in tomorrow (Sun)’s final. Laura Mylotte and Ciara Moloney are the third and fourth seeds.
David Ryan of Sutton LTC will continue to campaign on the European circuit after winning the U17 boys’ singles title at the recent French Junior Squash Open in Lille. In the final, Ryan beat fellow Irish junior international Michael Craig of Ulster for his second Super Series title of the season. Ryan, who is coached by his dad, Eoin Ryan, is now the top ranked U17 player in Europe. Next up for him and the Irish squad is the German Super Series in Nurnberg followed by the European U19 Championships in Switzerland and the European Squash Team Championships in Girona, Spain.
SNOOKER: Brendan O’Donoghue of New Institute Nenagh was back in winning form when he beat junior player Josh Boileau of Newbridge to win snooker’s sixth ranking tournament of the season in the Ivy Rooms, Carlow.
In two thrilling semi-finals, Boileau beat Roberta Redmond with a 100 break, while O’Donoghue put out Rodney Goggins. In the quarter-finals, current Irish No 1 David Hogan went out to Goggins, while ex-pro Michael Judge lost to Boileau.
It was a first win this season for O’Donoghue who now moves into third place in the rankings behind his clubmate David Hogan and Boileau. Just one tournament remains before the national championships where double points are on offer.
* Newbridge CYMS is the venue tomorrow (Sun) for the final RIBSA U21 Cue School, with 20 players qualified.
HOCKEY: Only two rounds of matches remain in hockey’s Leinster League and UCD are firmly on top of the women’s division 1 table . With games against North Kildare this weekend and bottom of the table Trinity later in the month, they are unlikely to drop points. Just one point behind are Railway Union, who play Corinthians today (Sat) and Old Alexandra next Thursday. In the Jacqui Potter Cup, Railway will face Loreto in the final on St Patrick’s Day at Grange Road.
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