White Hot Action As Squash Stars Get Clocked In Liverpool

The Liverpool 08 Open could see a new world speed record set next week at St George's Hall.

Tournament organisers Squash UK are rigging up a new radar gun to check the speed of EVERY shot struck at the sumptuous Liverpool venue.

And the favourite to shatter his own record is big-hitting Scot John White.

The world No9 was clocked striking the ball at 172 mph at Canary Wharf last year and tournament promoter Alan Thatcher has tipped White to beat his own personal best speed.

"Watching John White in full flow is one of the most exciting and dramatic sights in squash," said Thatcher. "When he winds up to smack that ball, it stays well and truly smacked. I am sure he can beat that speed and set another record."

Thatcher is planning to rig up the new radar gun to the tournament scoreboard so that spectators at St George's Hall can see the speed of every shot.

He is also feeding the radar gun speeds to the Sky Sports production crew who will be filming two days of live coverage from the semi-finals and finals next weekend, plus the groundbreaking live internet coverage produced by Horizon for the PSALive.tv website.

Thatcher added: "If you watch tennis and cricket on TV you see the speed of every shot struck and every ball bowled. We need to introduce extra ingredients like this to make the TV coverage more compelling to the viewer, and especially those who are not regular squash fans."

Thatcher first had the idea of timing squash players after American Andy Roddick had broken the 150-mph barrier in tennis. He added: "I always knew that squash players belted the ball harder than tennis players and wanted some evidence to prove it. Not surprisingly John White was the man who set the new standard, 22mph faster than the best in tennis."

Former world No1 White, the No6 seed who is now based in the USA, meets former Nottingham team-mate Simon Parke in an intriguing first round clash at St George's Hall on Wednesday (3 May). Parke, the grand old man of the men's tour, is still playing as competitively as ever at the age of 33. The Yorkshireman won the Croatian Open in Zagreb last week in his 14th PSA Tour final appearance in 17 years!

The top three seeds - Australia's David Palmer, England's James Willstrop and French ace - all face qualifiers on Wednesday with British national champion Nick Matthew meeting Italian Davide Bianchetti. Willstrop's Pontefract and England team-mate Lee Beachill tackles Australian Cameron Pilley, while Welshman Alex Gough meets England's Jonathan Kemp in an all-British battle.

England's wild card, Alex Stait, plays Egypt's 15th seed Ramy Ashour, the world junior champion, for the prize of tackling top seed Palmer in the second round on Thursday.

The Liverpool 08 Open Squash Championship takes place at the St George's Hall from 3-7 May, following qualifying on 1 & 2 May at the Liverpool Cricket Club

**** Liverpool lasses Georgina Stoker and Emmeline Goulden, who play for the Merseyside SRA county team, are taking part in a four-girl Invitation Tournament during the finals weekend, with Laura-Jane Lengthorn (Lancashire) and Kirsty McPhee of Yorkshire.