Collins top seed for last event

The Irish squash selectors get a final opportunity to look over the players available for the forthcoming World Team Championships at the Club Orange Westwood Open, which gets underway at the Leopardstown club this evening. National champion Derek Ryan is only one of the candidates for a place on the team, which is likely to be named after Sunday's finals, absent from the event in which Maurice Collins starts as top seed.

Collins faces Martin Harte in the opening round while his brother Chris faces Keith Murtagh. Stevie Richardson, back from injury, is up against Mark Allen. If, as expected, not all of the leading names are available for the trip to Malaysia, the projected quarter-final clash between Patrick Foster and John Rooney could end up helping to decide the final travelling party.

In the women's event, the host club's number one, Jenny Dillon, is favourite to come out of the weekend on top.