International squash comes to West Auckland this week starting Thursday evening with the PSA Satellite tournament, the Henderson Rochelle Hobbs Squash Open including some of the best players from New Zealand and overseas all working towards titles and PSA (Professional Squash Association) world ranking points.

The Henderson tournament is part of the PSA Summer Series which features five events over the next few weeks including the Barfoot and Thompson Auckland Open early next month.

Men’s top seed is Wellington’s Evan Williams, the 2018 Auckland Open champion, Commonwealth Games team member and current world No.91. Auckland players Sion Wiggin (207 in the world), Joel Arscott, and Elijah Thomas round out the top four seeds.

Auckland’s Abbie Palmer heads the women’s field with a current world ranking of 107, however, Waikato’s Anika Jackson the second seed and hard-hitting Aucklander, Lana Harrison will look to have a strong showing, with Korean visitors Mingyeoung Heo and Dong Ju Song third and fourth seeds respectively and aiming to make life tough for the locals.

Internationally there are four Koreans and one South African in the men’s Open draw, while the women’s Open draw features five Korean players.

“It’s great to have such a large contingent of players wanting to start their season at Henderson in a PSA international event. From an organisers point of view the depth and numbers competing are fantastic and having the Korean players taking part gives a little bit of uncertainty to the draws and means all Kiwi players will have to really be on their games,” says tournament organiser and former top 10 ranked professional, Shelley Kitchen MNZM.

Aside from ranking points, the tournament is also a selection event for the New Zealand Junior team that will compete at the World Junior Champs in the Gold Coast later this year. The importance of the event is drawing players from around the country including Paul Moran from Blenheim, Riley-Jack Vette-Blomquist from Northland, current national 19’s champ, Glenn Templeton from Katikati, Southland’s Anna O’Connor, Jenna Gregory from Hasting and many others.

There are also tournaments for men’s divisions 1-5 and women’s 1-3 making a real festival of squash at the Henderson Squash Club, 20-23 February with matches live-streamed on Facebook.

Tournament draws can be viewed here. 

Article added: Thursday 20 February 2020