Images From The
Final and Presentation
(click on pictures for larger view)
Adrian Waller
(ENG) wins the mens title
Nouran Ahmed
Gohar (EGY) takes the ladies title
Owen Kirk of
Cannon Kirk Homes (the main sponsor for the event) is pictured with the
Winners
Final
Teenager Nouran Gohar Wins In
Fitzwilliam
16 year
old Egyptian takes the women’s Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Squash Open
Title.
Adrian
Waller of England win’s the men’s title after a battle of attrition
against Scotsman Alan Clyne in five games lasting 93 minutes.
Here at
Fitzwilliam today we witnessed a great show of squash between the
experienced Sarah Kippax of England and 16 year old newcomer Nouran
Ahmed Gohar from Egypt, and the Egyptian went on to take the title
winning three games to one in superb fashion, her second WSA Tour title
after winning in Prague just before Christmas last year.
[4]
Nouran Ahmed Gohar (EGY) beat [2] Sarah Kippax (ENG) 11/3, 8/11, 11/8,
11/5. 49 mins.
The
men’s final which followed was an absolute battle of attrition between
two experienced and forceful squash players who slugged it out for five
games over 93 minutes before Englishman Adrian Waller played a great
smash into the front wall to take the final game 11/6, thus stopping his
opponent, Scotsman Alan Clyne, from winning two tournaments in
succession.
[2]
Adrian Waller (ENG) beat [4] Alan Clyne (SCO) 11/8, 10/12, 8/11, 11/7,
11/6. 93 mins.
Semi Finals
Gohar Goes Through To Fitzwilliam Final
Here at Fitzwilliam this evening we saw some good semi finals, but
unfortunately the last Irish representative Arthur Gaskin bowed out of
the tournament as he lost to Scotsman Alan Clyne 3–0.
In
the two ladies semi finals, Nouran Ahmed Gohar (Left) the 16 year old
Egyptian came through to beat her American opponent in three straight
games, and in the second the experience of English lady Sarah Kippax,
with her stylish, graceful squash, won out against the Welsh warrior
Tesni Evans 3 games to 1.
Should be a great ladies final tomorrow.
Quarter
Finals
Bad News For The Irish At Fitzwilliam
It
was good news for the Irish at first as the Irish No 1 Men’s player
Arthur Gaskin has a fine win over England qualifier Mark Fuller in four
games, in a great match that lasted 66 minutes.
Unfortunately Ireland’s No 1 Women’s player Madeline Perry, ranked 8 in
the world went down to unseeded American Olivia Blatchford (right) in
five superb games over 53 minutes. A sad loss for Ireland but great
credit to the young American for all her grace.
A great
Scottish match earlier left Alan Clyne in the winners chair, and also a
lovely ladies match between the two young Egyptians finished with the
younger Nouran Ahmed Gouran the winner.
Another upset for Ireland came when Tesni
Evans from Wales pulled back from 2 games down to beat Aisling Blake,
Ireland’s No 2, 3 games to 2.
First
Round
It’s
A Good Day For The Irish At Fitzwilliam
The
first round of the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open Squash tournament took
place today, and it started off with a slight disappointment as Men’s
No1 seed Tom Richards had to retire through injury after just a few
minutes of his match.
Fortunately after that start, the Irish players turned up trumps and
gave us some good results. Ireland’s top two lady players both got
through their first round games but in different circumstances.
Madeline Perry had a fairly comfortable 3 – 0 win against qualifier
Antonella Falcione, all the way from Argentina , but Aisling Blake won
again 3 – 0 but against a much tougher opponent in Australian girl Sarah
Cardwell, and all three games were very tight. In the match of the day
Ireland’s No 1 men’s player Arthur Gaskin had a tremendous tussle in his
match against qualifier Douglas Kempsell, as after taking a 2 games to
nil lead Arthur lost concentration to let Douglas pull back to level at
2 – 2, but then managed to come back strong and win a very tight fifth
and deciding game.
Unfortunately Galway’s part time player Bryan Byrne had his great run of
success stopped by the tournament’s No 3 seed Ryan Cuskelly from
Australia. There was also a very good win by Scotsman Alan Clyne, whilst
two players, Mark Fuller (ENG) and Greg Lobhan (SCO) advanced to the
next round thanks to their opponents retiring injured.
In the
ladies tournament there were also good wins for Olivia Blatchford from
America, Tesni Evans from Wales, and both young Egyptian players Nouran
Gohad and Yathreb Adel had good wins to set up an all Egyptian quarter
final tomorrow.
Qualifying
Final Round
Byrne
Wins In An Epic Match
Today we find out
the players who will have earned the right to a place in the main draw
of the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open Squash Tournament. We saw some
amazing squash all through the afternoon here at Fitzwilliam, but the
best was definitely saved until the last when local club player Bryan
Byrne won an amazing victory in front of a very vociferous Irish crowd,
when he came back at the death to save two match balls then go on to
defeat Dutchman Tom de Mulder, a younger and much more experienced
player, in the longest match of the day at 66 minutes. The eight players
through to the main draw represent seven different countries.
Qualifying Under Way In Dublin
Today sees the start here at
Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club of the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014,
which has now reached it’s 10th year under the sponsorship of
Cannon Kirk Homes, which in this period of economic downfall says an
awful lot about Cannon Kirk’s commitment to squash. We start as usual
with the first round of qualifying in both men’s and women’s
tournaments.
Qualifying First Round
Report
Men A great
start to the day for the Irish supporters as 19 year old local boy Sean
Conroy, ranked 261 in the world, came off court with a marvellous 3 – 0
win against 33 year old, much more experienced Austrian Jakob Dirnberger,
ranked 220. Later in the evening young Conor O’Hare put up a really
strong fight against a much more experienced opponent, actually getting
to game ball in both the first two games only to lose out in extra
points.
In the
last match of the day last local player Brian Byrne won a fabulous
victory over the #2 qualifying seed Reuben Phillips of
England
in what was the best match of the day.
Women.
Unfortunately there was no luck for the Irish in the ladies section as
all four local entrants went down in their first matches, even though
youngsters Fiona Power and Griffin Gillanders literally stepped off the
plane at Dublin Airport, arriving back from Finland after helping the
Irish Team to sixth place in the European U 19’s Team Championship, and
came straight to the club to play their games. And a special mention to
club member Jody Hannon for stepping in at the last minute as a local
entrant at the age of 35, and putting up a really good show against a
very experienced Argentinian.
