This year’s tournament has seen a record number of foreign entrants from different countries.
Sixteen athletes hailing from Australia, France, Sweden, Denmark, Brazil, UK, Croatia, Poland, and Czech Republic are joining another 54 locals in this major event in the local Squash calendar.
Top athletes from Malta’s national team include Malta’s Number 1 and Pro Player currently ranked 71 in the world Brad Hindle Deguara, Mark Lupi, Carl Camilleri, Nigel Dunkerley from the Men and Theresa Brousson, Johanna Rizzo and Colette Sultana from the Ladies.
These local players have just returned from the European Team Championships 3rd Division in Budapest Hungary where the ladies won bronze and the men finished in 6th place.
The International Open is also a launching pad for the GSSE 2011 in Liechtenstein in June.
The Open has eight categories this year with the main events being the Ladies Open (8) and The Men’s Open (16).
Other categories include Men B (8) open to advanced players, Men C (16) open to Intermediate Players, Ladies B (5) open to Intermediate Players, and for the first time the Juniors have been split into Under 17 (5), Under 15 (8) and Under 13 (6) categories. Colette Sultana in the U17 will be fighting to keep her Junior Open Title for the fourth year running, while up and coming Jean Balzan is also expected to do well.
In the U15 a record eight players are taking part with the return of Ryan Rizzo in this category. In the Under 13, eyes will be on 11-year-old Kimberley Cauchi who has just participated in the Austrian Junior Open in March.
With 70 players taking part and more than 130 matches to be played over four days the open will again prove to be a great tournament.
Finals will be played on Saturday starting from 4pm with the Junior U17 Final ending with the last match being the Men’s Open Final starting at 6pm. The general public is invited to watch on the main court 5 at the Marsa Sports Club.
Squash Malta thanked its sponsors, Belbin Malta Ltd and P. Cutajar (ISOSTAR). Without which such sponsors, big tournaments cannot be held successfully. Thanks also went to the Parliamentary Secretary for Sport, KMS and Malta Olympic Committee for their support and also to the Marsa Sports Club, venue of the tournament.