OVER 100 players from 15 different nations will compete in badminton's Irish International Championships which begin today at the National Centre in Lisburn.

The tournament, which is the second oldest open championship in the sport, forms part of the European circuit and its staging in Lisburn was only made possible through the financial help of the Sports Council for Northern Ireland.

Denmark provide the top seeds in all five events but their World junior champion, Peter Gade Kristiansen, was forced to withdraw from the tournament at the beginning of the week because of injury.

Kenneth Jonassen and Mette Pedersen are the number one seeds in the singles events with Lisburn's Michael Watt and Sonya McGinn of Dublin providing the main Irish challenge.