Irish squash champion Derek Ryan rose three places to a career best ranking of seventh in the world in the latest list, issued yesterday by the Professional Squash Association.

An accumulation of ranking points picked up over the past 12 months, the best spell of the Dubliner's career, topped by last month's five-set win over former world champion Rodney Eyles at the Libertel Open in Maastricht, helped lift Ryan above Eyles, Anthony Hill (also of Australia) and Wales' Alex Gough in the new list.

"I had a feeling I would go up but I wasn't sure I'd go that high, so it's fantastic news," Ryan said yesterday.

The news completes what has been a very good week for Ryan after he got word that, for the second year running, he will receive an Irish Sports Council grant of £15,000. "That's set me up for another year and makes the world of difference to my career. Their support has been brilliant from the day I started playing squash at a serious level.

"I decided a year ago to just fully concentrate and focus on the ranking events and not to be chasing around playing smaller tournaments and league matches and that's really, really helped me a lot. I couldn't have done it, though, without the grant."

Ryan has another two weeks training in Helsinki, where he is preparing for the start of the new season in August. He will represent Ireland at the World Cup in Rotterdam (starts August 10th).