More than 130 squash players will be chasing titles in a closed tournament to be help next weekend as a trail run for the New Zealand championship in July.
The Organising committee for the national championships in Christchurch from July 12 to 19 will be testing their arrangements at next weekend’s tournament. The absence of Canterbury’s top player, Maurice Billington has taken some of the sting from the men’s open event. Much interest will centre on how the 17 year-old Canterbury junior, Rod Hayes seeded fourth, measures up against the top players.
TOP SEED
Viv Hargreaves (High School Old Boys) is the top seed. He won a tough five -game match against Celtic’s Danny Lyons during the representative fixture in Timaru at the weekend but lost a five game match against Russell Grant (Dunedin). Hargreaves’s club mate Barry McNeil, is the second seed. McNeil was eliminated by Sumner’s Lawrence Skurr during the Sumner tournament.The New Zealand colts team reserve Skurr has been playing well and seeded third, could, along with Hayes, pose a threat to the top players.
The women’s open could see some interesting matches and challenges can be expected from unseeded players. The Canterbury No.1 Ros Stanton is the top seed, but she will fave a strong challenge from second-seeded Kathy Graham. These two have had some close battles last season and have not yer met in a final this year. Mrs Graham was eliminated from the Sumner tournament by Jill Bruce, this time the No. 3 seed. Mrs Bruce will probably have Miss Stanton in the semi-finals. After the final at Sumner it appears the top seed should have few problems.
TOUGH
The fourth seed, Merle Holland, could face a tough first round challenge from Val Dunstan (High School Old Boys). On past performances, Mrs Holland should win the encounter, but she has played little competitive squash this season. The seeded players can expect hard matches against Christchurch’s Bette King, who is the Singapore open champion, Lyn Chamberlain, Margot Davenport, (both Burnside) and Margaret Steele (Old Boys).
