TENNIS/Irish Indoors: The opening-day scenes at the National Indoor championships at the Riverview yesterday could have been mistaken for an episode of Emergency Ward Ten.
The women's singles was badly hit with top seed Karen Nugent out because of flu and strong Cork challenger Elsa O'Riain had to withdraw because of an arm injury.
The men's number two seed Guy Thomas of Wales was sidelined after damaging an arm lifting a heavy object and injuries sustained by a couple of other contenders boosted the hopes of rising home talents such as David O'Connell, Eoin Heavey and, of course, the highest seeded domestic player, Conor Niland from Cork (seeded three).
Rachel Dillon, the Dublin full-timer, also sees her chances improve because of significant defections. She dominated opponent Niamh Burke while advancing to the second round.
Liverpool full-timer Matthew Smith, the men's top seed, was champion of Britain in three age groups and five years ago was the world under-14 champion. The gifted 19-year-old has only recovered from injury but he cruised past Warren Atkins.