It is with deep sadness that Irish Squash, note the passing of Brian Fitzgerald – former President of Irish Squash and the European Squash Federation. A Limerick native, Brian played squash in the North club and then in Belfast Harlequins. The President and Board of Irish Squash, extend their deepest sympathies to his wife, Iris Fitzgerald and family.
May Brian Rest in Peace
Friday 6th January
An absolutely magnificent result for Denis Gilevskiy, as he won the British Junior Open U13. He beat English boy 
Sam Osborne Wlyde 3-0 – 11/2, 11/6, 11/6, in emphatic style showing great maturity and skill to dominate the match. Denis had a convincing 1st game which he won 11/2. Denis was very powerful and Sam nervous in that first game. But in the 2nd, Sam settled somewhatand he came back at Denis in the middle of that 2nd game, to lead 6-4. Denis steadied himself and played some super lengths and drops to win the 2nd 11/6.
In the third game it was a similar story with Sam going 2-0 up but again Denis played beautiful patient squash to eventually pull away 5/4, 6/4…..8/4 and onto 11/6. Denis played some magnificent drops at 4all and 7/4 and his cross court drive to give him match ball was sublime.
A really super match and Denis demonstrated a maturity and great skill with a
great game plan that belies his years.
Congratulations Denis – British Open Champion, from everyone in IRISH SQUASH.
Watch an interview with Denis on RTE news here:
For more pics and video go to IRISH SQUASH Twitter
Thursday 5th January
British Junior Open – Great result for Denis Gilevskiy, winning his Semi Final v Jonah Bryant, 11/4, 11/4,
11/9 to reach the final of the Under 13.
Denis was in good control in the first 2 games, taking them 11/4 in each. After an even start to the 3rd, Denis pulled away to match ball at 10-6. Jonah pulled it back to 10-9. Denis was staying patient, looking for his opportunity, which finally came to win the 3rd game 11/9, and the match, 3/0.
A really super result for Denis, one of only 6 Europeans among the 32 Semi Finalists in this year’s British Junior Open. Now onto the final on Friday, all of the Squash community in Ireland wish Denis the very best of luck in the final.
You can see a replay of the Semi Final and also the Final will be shown live at 10.15am on Friday here – https://www.facebook.com/henrygillanders/videos/vb.100000674075906/1415194621846327/?type=2&theater
Wednesday 4th January
British Junior Open – Super play, as Denis Gilevsky is through to the semi-final of B13 after beating top seed Omar
Azzam (Egy) 11/7 5/11 11/7 6/11 11/6. Congratulations Denis. One of very few Europeans through to the Semis. He now plays Jonah Bryant of England in the
Semis tomorrow.
Link for the Draw/Results to see the results of all 7 IRISH players who competed.
See here for all the results and some great photos –https://twitter.com/BJOsquash
Tuesday 3rd January
BJO 2017 – The highlight of the Open so far from an Irish point of view is Denis Gilevskiy through to the last 8 after 
3 great wins in the U13’s, He now plays the Number 1 seed, Omar Azzam of Egypt on Wednesday.
The other 6 IRISH players – Scott Gillanders, Jack O’Flynn, Sean White, Sophie O’Rourke, Laura Neill, Todd Gowdy have had some good wins.
Check out all the results here
LEINSTER OPEN 2016
The Leinster Open took place at the weekend and was a great success. There was some super squash with the
Women’s & Men’s A Finals both containing the top seeds – Sophie O’Rourke played Hannah Craig and Sean Conroy played Steve Richardson.
In the Women’s final it was a really super match. Sophie worked really hard to level the game at 2 all but the effort she put in doing this went against her in the 5th where she was very tired. Hannah was very determined and playing some really super squash closed out the match. In the Men’s final the ever young, Steve Richardson played the young
Sean Conroy. In a match with some scintillating rallies and some super retrieving from both players, the crowd were on the edge of their seats. Sean is a full time professional, now based in Bristol but Steve was able to keep up to the pace, which belied his older age. It was very close, but in the end Sean won it 3-1.
In the A/B play off Conor Moran and Dara O’Flynn won their last matches to finish top of the play off. In the Men’s C section Frank Donnelly played John Doyle from Wexford. In getting to the final, Frank played some lovely controlled squash, showing all his experience. John finally won it 3-2, in another great final.
A very well run and successful Leinster Open. Congratulations to Gerry Delaney and his team for running the tournament. See all the results below.
For more pictures go to the IRISH SQUASH twitter
HERE
| Venue: |
Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club |
| Address: |
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Friday, December 16, 2016 to Sunday, December 18, 2016
Tournament days
At the Swiss Junior Open in Langnau am Albis last weekend. 13 IRISH players participated.
All 13 players played superbly in an event with a very high standard of players from all over Europe.
The highlights were a victory for Sophie O’Rourke in the U17’s and Denis Gilevskiy in the U13’s. Scott Gillanders had a great match in the final of the U17’s but just lost out to a strong Czech player, Ondrej Vorlicek. Hannah Craig also got to the semi final of the U19’s, losing to Georgina Adderley from Scotland, the eventual winner.
The other IRISH players who played were:
Sam Buckley
Jake Creaven
Michael Creaven
Sean Dineen
Oisin Dunne
Oscar Kehoe
Conor Moran
Stephanie Ryan
Alex Smith
For all results see HERE For some pictures from the Open see HERE
In the November’s ESF Junior ranking Dylan Moran raised to #3 position in the Boys U13 group, his highest 
ranking ever. Well done Dylan!
This age group and Boys U17 look particularly strong for Ireland with two players in top-10 in each of them and many other staying very close.
There are also two Irish girls Hannah and Stephanie in the top-10 of Girls Under 19.
The full list of Irish players in the ESF top-10:
Oisin Dunne 10-th (BU-19)
Hannah Craig 6-th (GU-19)
Stephanie Ryan 9-th (GU-19)
Conor Moran 5-th (BU-17)
Scott Gillanders 7-th (BU-17)
Denis Gilevskiy 1-st (BU-13)
Dylan Moran 3-rd (BU-13)
Well done to all who participate in Swiss Junior Open (Super Series) last weekend and best of luck to all Irish juniors competing in Leinster Senior Open this weekend.
For all rankings see here –
http://esf.tournamentsoftware.com/ranking/ranking.aspx?rid=90
The IRISH JUNIOR OPEN took place in Sutton and Aer Lingus Squash Clubs from the 25th -27th of November. With over 130 players entered from 9 countries it was a wonderful weekend of squash. There were 3 Irish winners, 
Denis Gilevskiy in the U13’s, Sophie O’Rourke in the U17’s & Hannah Craig in the U19’s, with many other super Irish performances.
Results
Boys U13 Final – Denis Gilveskiy (Ire) bt Knut Hogervorst (Neth) 3-1
Girls U13 Final – Asia Harris (Eng) bt Hannah McGugan (Ire) 3-1
Boys U15 Final – Max Forster (Eng) bt Daniel Haggarty (Eng) 3-0
Girls U15 Final – Margot Prot (Eng) bt Brenda Jiatong Li (Ire) 3-0
Boys U17 Final – Alasdair Prott bt Oscar Beach (Eng) 3-0
Girls U17 Final – Sophie O’Rourke (Ire) bt Ellie McVeigh (Ire) 3-0
Boys U19 Final – Nicholas Wall (Eng) bt Elliot Morris (Wal) 3-0
Girls U19 Final – Hannah Craig bt Stephanie Ryan (Ire) 3-2
All results available here – http://esf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=C6C505D5-3601-4EFE-BC8A-6209CC55B3D4
The IRISH JUNIOR OPEN 2016 matches from Court 1 in Sutton LTC are available to watch on the IRISH SQUASH You Tube Channel – Watch it HERE
IRISH JUNIOR OPEN 2016
The 2016 IRISH JUNIOR OPEN will take place from the 25th – 27th of November. Once again the Open will be held at the super facilities of Sutton LTC & Aer Lingus Squash Club (ALSAA).
Last year the Open had over 130 players from 7 countries. This year we expect even more.
This is the final draft of the draw. As of today (24/11/2016), no further changes to match times will be facilitated. In accordance with the ESF guidelines, please make yourself known to the tournament organisers at the venue 15 minutes before your scheduled match to avoid penalties.
Irish Squash Federation Ltd
The Munster Junior Open took place on Saturday 12th of November and finished on Sunday. There were 100 players playing in 10 events, so some super squash was played over the weekend. Well done to Kevin White and his team for organising such a good tournament.See pictures here http://www.munstersquash.com/index.php/junior-news/
Results are below.
| Venue: |
Highfield & Sundays Well Squash Clubs |
| Address: |
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Saturday, November 12, 2016 to Sunday, November 13, 2016
Today’s Annual General Meeting of the World Squash Federation elected a new President to succeed N. Ramachandran following the completion of the Indian’s second and final four-year term.
Jacques Fontaine becomes the Federation’s ninth President since the WSF’s inception in 1967 – the first Frenchman and third European – and was elected by delegates representing a record-breaking 59 National Federations attending the 46th WSF AGM in Hong Kong.
“My intention will be to work with a new governance model based on integrity, transparency and team spirit,” said Fontaine after his victory. “The WSF needs to establish a defined agreement with the professional section of our discipline, the PSA.
“The Olympic agenda remains a priority, along with increasing the profile of our sport worldwide and supporting grassroots development,” added the new President. “Collaboration of all Member Nations is a must.”
Also elected at the meeting were four new Vice Presidents: Gar Holohan, President of the Irish Federation; Pablo Serna, President of the Colombian Federation; Sarah Fitz-Gerald, the five-time World Champion and current World Over-45 Champion from Australia; and Huang Ying How, President of the Malaysian Federation.
“They bring a tremendous skill set, global representation and an unparalleled commitment,” said President Fontaine, delighted by the candidates on his newly-elected board. “I am confident this will be the beginning of a new era for squash.”
[Pictured above (L to R) are Gar Holohan, Huang Ying How, Jacques Fontaine and Pablo Serna (absent isSarah Fitz-Gerald, who was unable to attend the meeting in Hong Kong)]
Fontaine, President of the French Squash Federation and European Regional Vice President as well as being a Board Member of the French National Olympic Committee, was elected ahead of three other candidates –Natalie Grainger, a former world number one from the USA who recently won the World Over-35 title; EgyptianMohamed El Menshawy, a WSF Vice President for six years; and Zena Wooldridge, President of the European Squash Federation, from England.
The outgoing President was characterised by his efforts to secure a place for squash on the Olympic Games 2020 Programme – a bid which was ultimately unsuccessful.
“I want to say what an honour I feel in my heart to have had the opportunity to serve our Member Nations and the sport for the last eight years as your President,” said Ramachandran, from Chennai, who became WSF President in 2008, having previously been President of the Asian Regional Federation.
“I have had the privilege of not only having good teams behind me, but so much support from so many people generally. I leave feeling that I have taken WSF forward.”
The meeting also unanimously approved the application of Tahiti as the newest WSF member.
The incoming Board was delighted that squash legend Jahangir Khan agreed to serve a further term as Emeritus President of the WSF.
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Irish Squash Federation Ltd
Click here to enter online
The online entry closes on Friday, October 28, 2016 at 11:59 PM (GMT +01:00).
| Venue: |
Belfast Boat Club |
| Address: |
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| Phone: |
02890665012 |
Online entry
| Entry open: |
Saturday, October 15, 2016 12:00 AM (GMT +01:00) |
| Entry deadline: |
Friday, October 28, 2016 11:59 PM (GMT +01:00) |
| Withdrawal deadline: |
Sunday, October 30, 2016 11:59 PM (GMT) |
Tournament days
Friday, November 4, 2016 to Sunday, November 6, 2016
