[1] Jasmine Hutton (Eng) 3-1 Aira Azman (Mas) 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 (39m)
[1] Eain Yow Ng (Mas) 3-0 [4] Aly Abou Eleinen (Egy) 12-10, 11-3, 11-2 (29m)
Top seeds Hutton and Ng triumph in Dublin
What an exhibition of squash we got this afternoon at the finals of this year’s Cannon Kirk Gillen Markets Irish Open. Report from Irish Squash, Photos by Mark McGrath
The women’s final was between top seed Jasmine Hutton and the unseeded Aira Azman. The very talented Maalyasian, Azman started off at an amazing pace and with such accuracy, she won the first game to 8. Then Jasmine got into her stride and started to dominate a bit. She won the second game to 5, then won the third to 4.
Azman was determined not to let it go easily and made a big push in game four. But Jasmine who was hitting the ball so well; she has such a powerful drive that Aira had no real answer in the end. Hutton won the match 3-1 in 39min.
Then we had the Men’s final with top seed Eain Yow Ng up against fourth seed Aly Abou Eleinen. After last night’s semi finals the packed gallery were nervous with anticipation. The first game was so close with Yow Ng winning it 12-10.
Before the game John Massarella asked Eleinen to change his shirt, as it was the same colour as Yow Ng. He needed to change his shirt after the first game but didn’t have a proper squash shirt in a different colour to the navy of Yow Ng.
He did get a shirt but he wasn’t happy with it and it seemed to bother him and he lost the second easily 11-3. The rallies were still long but he was losing most of them. In the third he seemed to lose some heart and went down 11-2.
But all of this has to be put in the context of Yow Ng, who is a truly amazing athlete and surely destined for the World’s top 10 very soon.
So we have two new Irish Open champions in Jasmine Hutton and Eain Yow Ng. Welcome to the distinguished roll of honour.
The first Men’s Irish Open was held in 1932 and Women’s in 1949, making it probably the second oldest ongoing world tournament after the British Open.
Semi-Final Pics
