The Shires Leinster Open Badminton Championships get under way at Whitehall Road tonight with several international players from Ireland, England, Scotland and Holland amongst the entry for the tournament.

The reigning Scottish Open champion, Holland's Tjitte Weistra, is seeded one in the men's singles event, ahead of Scottish number one Bruce Flockhart, a twice former Leinster Open champion, fellow Scot Jim Mailer and Peter Jeffrey, a current England under-23 international.

Dubliner Sonya McGinn will be looking for her third successive victory in the domestic calendar and is favourite in the women's singles event, where she is seeded to meet Scottish teenager Fiona Sneddon, regarded as one of the brightest prospects in the game, in Saturday's final.

Eight of the Irish players who will be in action in Terenure have been selected for the Thomas and Uber Cups in Norway next month. Donie O'Halloran, Michael O'Meara and brothers Mark and Bruce Topping have been chosen for the Thomas Cup team, while McGinn, Elaine Kiely, Jayne Plunkett and Claire Henderson will represent Ireland in the Uber Cup.