There will be three players from the host country in the first ever professional squash tournament to be held in Trinidad and Tobago.
The QPCC (Queen’s Park Cricket Club) Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournament will take place next week on Tuesday at the QPCC Indoor Racquet Centre, Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair.
Seth Thong was the only player from this country to receive one of the four “wild cards” a few weeks ago. But after three players withdrew with injury a few days ago, Brandon De Montrichard and Zachary Loquan have decided to play in the five-day tournament.
Thong and 2018 runner-up De Montrichard made it to the quarter-finals of the National Championships when they last competed at home in July.
And along with Loquan, they were on the national team that took part in the CASA (Caribbean Area Squash Association) Championship — the biggest tournament in the Caribbean — in August in Jamaica. National U-17 and 19 champion Thong was the U-17 bronze medalist at the CASA Junior Championships in Guyana in July.
New Zealand’s William Donnelly, ranked 257th in the world, and both Pakistani youngsters Talha Saeed and Junaid Khan (#533), have withdrawn due to injury. But there are still 20 players ranked between #132 and #693 in the world on the field. Colombia leads the way with four players, including the only two players ranked inside the top 200.
The field also features four players from Mexico along with three from England, two from New Zealand and one each from Egypt, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Taylor Carrick (#658) is the only world-ranked player from the Caribbean on the tour. The Bermudian has received a wild card, along with Britain’s Nick Sutcliffe (#693), Guyana’s Jason Ray Khalil, ten-time Barbados champion Shawn Simpson and Thong.
A women’s event was advertised, but all participants have withdrawn since last month. Barbados, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands are the Caribbean countries that have hosted the professional tour over the years.
