KENT OPEN SQUASH: Scottish star Clyne is top seed

FLYING Scot Alan Clyne is the top seed for the forthcoming Kent Open at The Mote Squash Club.

Clyne is one of the fastest and fittest players on the PSA Tour and heads up a truly international field in this new One Star world-ranking tournament, which runs from June 1-6.

The 23-year-old from Edinburgh was a semi-finalist in The Mote Open invitation event last year, showing his enormous potential in a narrow defeat to Australia’s Aaron Frankcomb in a marathon two-hour battle.

Clyne faces a tough battle in the first round against England’s Joel Hinds, the recent winner of the British Under-23 Championship.

Kent county captain Ben Ford, from Bexley, is seeded eight and plays a qualifier in the first round on June 3.

Wild card Steven London, from Beckenham, faces a baptism of fire in his first PSA tournament against Irish No.1 John Rooney, the No.3 seed.

After Clyne, the leading seeds include Muhammad Azan (Malaysia), Joe Lee (England), Ivan Yuen
(Malaysia), Piedro Schweertman (Holland) and Harinder Pal Sandhu (India).

Leading Mote players Jonny Powell and James Evans, plus Rodmersham’s Neil Baker, will be keen to make an impression during the qualifying competition which takes place on June 1-2.

Admission is free all week at The Mote and the tournament follows the Kent Squash Festival, which has been running for several weeks and has introduced squash and racketball to students
at more than 20 schools all over the county.

The Festival and the Kent Open have been funded by England Squash and Racketball, with additional sponsorship from Harrow Rackets and a number of private donations.

We are delighted to have attracted such a high-quality field and our ambition is to make the Kent Open a major annual event on the world squash calendar.

The courts at The Mote are in superb condition after a major refurbishment and we look forward to seeing a packed gallery for six days of superb entertainment.

Ahead of the main draw final on June 6, the successful Kent junior squad will be playing a Challenge Match against the SE Region.

The finals weekend will also include doubles, racketball, coaching clinics and a Radar Gun Challenge to see if any players can get near to the current world record of 172mph set by Scotland’s John
White.

FIRST ROUND DRAW, Thursday June 3rd:

6.00pm: 2 Muhammad Azan (Malaysia) v Qualifier

3 John Rooney (Ireland) v Steven London (Kent)

6.45pm: 8 Ben Ford (Kent) v Qualifier

7 Harinder Pal Sandhu (India) v Qualifier

7.30pm: 5 Ivan Yuen (Malaysia) v Karim Samy (Egypt)

6 Piedro Schweertman (Netherlands) v Qualifier)

8.30pm: 1 Alan Clyne (Scotland) v Joel Hinds (England)

4 Joe Lee (England) v Neil Hitchens (England)

Qualifying Competition draw takes place at 4pm on Tuesday June 1st.