Seventeen players who took part in the PSA World Championships in Egypt will play at the star-studded 48-player Quilter Cheviot Cannon Kirk Irish Open in Dublin.
Greg Lobban, the PSA men’s No.27 from Scotland who was a 2025 Irish Open title winner, reached round two at the Palm Hills event, and Nada Abbas, the women’s No.14 from Egypt and a 2024 Irish Open title winner, made it through to round three. They will now arrive at Fitzwilliam as the respective men’s and women’s top seeds.
With six of the eight men’s seeds and all eight women’s seeds having played at the World Championships, it highlights the calibre of players taking part in the free-to-attend five-day Copper status tournament, which gets underway on Tuesday.
Both the men’s and women’s events have an equal prize fund of $41,500 each – an increase from last year’s $36K and way up on the $20K value in 2024 – and three Irish players men’s players – Sam Buckley, Conor Moran and late call-up Michael Creaven – and two Irish women’s players – Breanne Flynn and Hannah McGugan – are taking part.
Buckley’s round one match on Tuesday should be especially intriguing. He defeated Perry Malik 3-1 last month in St Louis at the RC Pro Series quarter-finals, but the English player struck back with a 3-2 win over the Irish No.1 last Friday in the PSA West of Ireland semi-finals.
Squash Ireland CEO Scott Graham enthused: “The PSA Irish Open is one of the marquee events in the calendar every year. It’s huge, and this year it has Copper status again with a big prize fund equally split between the men and the women.
“It has attracted some of the top players in the world. We’re going to have an absolutely stacked field, and we’re delighted to have top Irish players as well.
“Given that their world rankings have been improving every year, they are going to be really competitive again this year. We’re really looking forward to seeing how they get on, and we’re going to have great crowds watching this year… We hope to see you there.”
IRISH OPEN MEN’S ENTRY LIST
1. Greg Lobban (No.27, Scotland)*
2. Matias Knudsen (No.42, Colombia)*
3. Patrick Rooney (No.43, England)*
4. Sam Todd (No.46, England)*
5. Adrian Waller (No.55, England)*
6. Ryunosuke Tsukue (No.62, Japan)*
7. Sanjay Jeeva (No.63, Malaysia)
8. Shahjahan Khan (No.68, USA)
Perry Malik (No.66, England)
Leandro Romiglio (No.74, Argentina)
Rory Stewart (No.76, Scotland)
Finnlay Withington (No.64, England)
Emyr Evans (No.81, Wales)
Duncan Lee (No.86, Malaysia)
Rui Soares (No.85, Portugal)
Elijah Thomas (No.89, New Zealand)
Maceo Levy (No.98, France)
Dylan Molinaro (No.102, Australia)
Sam Buckley (No.100, Ireland)
Oliver Dunbar (No.131, New Zealand)
Yannik Omlor (No.112, Germany)
Conor Moran (No.155, Ireland)
Michael Creaven (No.371, Ireland)
One reserve player to be added
*Played at the recent World Championships
IRISH OPEN WOMEN’S ENTRY LIST
1. Nada Abbas (No.14, Egypt)*
2. Zeina Mickawy (No.30, Egypt)*
3. Hana Ramadan (No.32, Egypt)*
4. Nardine Garas (No.38, Egypt)*
5. Nadien Elhammamy (No.42, Egypt)*
6. Haya Ali (No.45, Egypt)*
7. Habiba Hani (No.50, Egypt)*
8. Joelle King (No.72, New Zealand)*
Ainaa Amani (No.51, Malaysia)*
Cindi Merlo (No.61, Switzerland)*
Jessica van der Walt (No.62, Australia)
Madeleine Hylland (No.68, Norway)
Milie Tomlinson (No.66, England)
Kaitlyn Watts (No.74, New Zealand)*
Tanvi Khanna (No.75, India)
Margot Prow (No.69, Barbados)
Saskia Beinhard (No.83, Germany)
Kiera Marshall (No.77, England)
Madison Lyon (No.79, Australia)
Enora Villard (No.88, France)
Ella Jane Lash (No.84, New Zealand)
Karina Tyma (No.87, Poland)
Breanne Flynn (No.98, Ireland)
Hannah McGugan (No.215, Ireland)
*Played at the recent World Championships
