Squash: Durbach and Ryan through in Irish Open

Rodney Durbach joined fellow Irishman and title holder Derek Ryan in the main draw for the Irish Open Squash Championships at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin.

Durbach secured a simple straight games win over England's world number 42 Tim Garner.

World number one Jonathon Power is not in the tournament after an embarrassing administrative mix-up.

His application to be entered for the tournament was late, but the Canadian was still wrongly included in the original draw.

Professional Squash Association rules dictate that a late entry will not be considered eligible for any Tour event. After complaints from other players, and despite opposite pressure from the tournament's backers, keen to have the world's top player in the event, organisers were forced into a climbdown.

Power's absence is a crucial blow as the Irish Open is an important warm-up event for next month's showpiece of the squash season, the British Open in Birmingham.

It gives world champion and former world number one Peter Nicol a chance to gain some much-needed confidence in Dublin.

He has recently suffered two successive tournament defeats - previously unheard of before Nicol transferred allegiance from Scotland to England in March.