By ALAN THATCHER (Squash Mad Editor)
England’s Commonwealth Games doubles finalists Declan James and Daryl Selby will be back on court this weekend in the Tony Whiting Canterbury Open.
James won gold in Birmingham as he and partner James Willstrop beat Selby and Adrian Waller in the final of the men’s doubles, the first time in the event that two teams from the same country have met in the final.
The Nottingham-based James will be keen to continue the form and fitness he showed in Birmingham after overcoming recent injury problems in the run-up to the Games. He is seeded to meet Surrey’s Joe Lee, who is based at New Malden, in Sunday’s final.
Selby, who recently retired from playing on the PSA World Tour, will be doing a car-share with the player he manages, Ben Coleman.
The Canterbury Open is a popular graded tournament organised by the mastermind of graded squash, Canterbury Squash Club’s Joe Magor.
He said: “We have had a total of 93 entries across the five categories, which is a great turnout for the return of this event after three years so thank you to everyone for supporting this tournament.
“It’s not every day that Richie Fallows doesn’t make the top eight of a graded tournament, especially after having won this event three times.
“I would also like to extend a massive thanks to our sponsors:Blitz Hire Ltd (Platinum), Jaytee Biosciences (Gold), Diva Metalwork (Gold), AutoWorld Ltd (Bronze) and Certax Accounting (Bronze) for generously sponsoring this event.”
The tournament has been named in honour of former Canterbury Squash Club chairman and president Tony Whiting, who died recently.
Play gets under way this evening and a busy weekend concludes with the finals on Sunday.
Top Seeds
1 Declan James: Commonwealth Games 2022 Men’s Doubles Gold Medallist, currently ranked 46 in the world
2 Joe Lee: Berkhamsted Linksap Open 2022 Winner, Surrey No.1
3/4 Curtis Malik: Winner of The Northern Joe Cup 2022, Hove Ampito Open 2022, NTA Squash Classic 2022, Kent Open 2021, Sussex No.1
3/4 Rui Soares: Portuguese No.1 currently at highest world ranking of 59
5/8 Ben Coleman: Hove Ampito Squash Open 2022 Runner-Up, Essex No.1
5/8 Tom Walsh: Kinetic 3k Challenger 2022 Presented by Sundip Murthy Winner, Sussex No.2
5/8 Daryl Selby: Commonwealth Games 2022 Men’s Doubles, Silver Medallist, Former World No.9
5/8 Miles Jenkins: Winner of Arion Homes Cheetham Hill Classic 2021, Sussex No.3