HOCKEY: A strong Irish men’s hockey team heads for next week’s Champions Challenge in Argentina hoping to qualify for the 2013 Champions Trophy. In the group matches, the Irish play host side Argentina next Saturday followed by Japan and and South Africa, with play-offs to follow. The Irish lost to Argentina twice last year, but fancy their chances against South Africa and should beat Japan, the lowest ranked of the four teams. In the second pool, Canada is top seed, followed by Korea, Malaysia and Poland. Former Irish coach Paul Revington is looking after the Malaysian team.
New Irish coach Andrew Meredith has made only two changes to the squad that competed in the Olympics qualifier last March, with UCD’s Shane O’Donoghue and Bruce McCandless of Banbridge comingin for David Ames and Ian Sloan who are unavailable.
ARCHERY: Archers from Switzerland, Holland, France, England, Scotland and Wales, including Olympians and Paralympians will compete in next weekend’s Irish Indoor Open Archery Championships in Lordship, Co Louth. Two days of qualifiers are followed by the individual head-to-head knockout-competition and the team event on Sunday November 25. The competition, one of the largest indoor shoots in Europe this year, is organised by CúChulainn Archers.
BADMINTON: A record total of 261 players from 26 nations have entered the Irish Badminton Open taking place at Baldoyle Badminton Centre from December 6-9.
Top men’s seed is Malaysian player Chun Seang Tan, currently world ranked No 34. Irish No 1 Scott Evans leads the men’s entry.
In the women’s draw Germany’s Karin Schnaase heads the rankings, with Ireland’s Chloe Magee tipped to do well.
Dutch pair Jacco Arends and Jelle Maas lead a strong entry in the men’s doubles. Local interest centres on the experienced Sam Magee who has paired up with Irish No 2 Johny Dolan from Sligo. Dolan reached the quarter-finals of the men’s singles at the recent World Juniors.
In mixed doubles, Sam Magee and Chloe Magee are perhaps the best chance of a home victory. At the opening round of the China Open earlier this week, the Magees took a set off Korean pair Ki Jung Kim and So Young Kim of Korea and although they lost, picked up valuable ranking points.
SNOOKER: Former pro Michael Judge from Dublin was a surprise entry at snooker’s second ranking tournament of the season held in Letterkenny. Judge retired last year after a long career on the pro tour that stretched back to 1991 after he won Irish U-16 and U-18 titles. A superb potter, Judge’s finest moment came in 2004, when he reached the semi-final of the Grand Prix after reaching a world ranking of 24 in the 2002/3 season. In Letterkenny, he beat David Hogan of New Institute Nenagh in the semi-finals and then Brendan O’Donoghue also Nenagh in the final. O’Donoghue had put out Irish U-19 champion Josh Boileau of Newbridge in his semi-final. He now leads the Irish team at the World Champiomships in Sofia, Bulgaria, starting next Saturday.
* The 147 Club in Wexford hosts a round of the Celtic Link Ferries Open tomorrow (Sun). Details Rodney Goggins 087-9948199.
VOLLEYBALL: No changes at the top of the men’s premier division, with defending champions UCD maintaining their unbeaten record after defeating Ballymum Patriots Y in straight sets last weekend. A key match comes on December 9, when UCD face Aer Lingus, now second on the table after a poor start to the season when they lost to Ballymun’s first team. In today’s round of matches, UCD play former champions Munster Thunder, while Aer Lingus face the second Ballymun team. In the women’s premier division, DVC have five wins from five matches, with their key match against second placed Santry coming on December 9. Santry is also unbeaten this season, with two matches in hand. They play Naas Cobras tomorrow, a tricky side including members of the Irish junior squad. They have pushed Tallaght Rockets, Trinity and UCD to five sets this season and are due a win.
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