Home Interest Boosted In Inaugural London Open

Domestic interest in the Anscombe & Ringland London Open will be boosted by a further five English players who came through the qualifying finals of the inaugural international squash event at the Cumberland Club in London.

Tom Pashley, Joe Lee and Ben Ford overcame compatriots Philip Nightingale, Neil Hitchens and Adrian Waller, respectively, to earn places in the main draw of the 1-star PSA Tour men's event. Pashley, 19, from Sussex, will face Dutchman Tom Hoevenaars, the No6 seed, while Lee, the 18-year-old from Surrey who was runner-up in the European Junior Championships this year, will take on France's seventh seed Mathieu Castagnet.

Ben Ford, 32, from Welling in Kent, earns a clash with India's fourth seed Ritwik Bhattacharya.

In the women's WISPA World Tour event, 2006 British Junior National champion Rachel Willmott, from Sussex, despatched Pakistan's Anna Batool Kardar 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 and will now meet Joshna Chinappa, the fifth seed from India.

Willmott's successor, the reigning British Junior champion Victoria Lust, from Bedfordshire, beat compatriot Carrie Hastings and will now face top-seeded English woman Dominique Lloyd-Walter, the world No19 from Harrow.

All eyes, however, will be on the first round men's match between England's Scott Handley, the third seed from Oxfordshire, and Pakistan's Jansher Khan - the former world No1 and record eight-time world champion who is making his first appearance in London since March 1998.

Victory by the retired squash legend, now aged 38, would bring Khan's career PSA Tour title tally to 100.

Men's qualifying finals:
Majid Khan (PAK) bt Jason Barry (RSA) 11-9, 11-7, 11-3
Tom Pashley (ENG) bt Philip Nightingale (ENG) 11-5, 11-9, 11-2
Joe Lee (ENG) bt Neil Hitchens (ENG) 11-5, 11-5, 11-7
Ben Ford (ENG) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 11-4, 11-8, 11-8

Women's qualifying finals:
Celia Allamargot (FRA) bt Leonie Holt (ENG) 9-1, 3-9, 9-6, 9-4
Heba El Torky (EGY) bt Kerri Shields (IRL) 9-4, 9-5, 9-6
Victoria Lust (ENG) bt Carrie Hastings (ENG) 9-1, 9-3, 9-4
Rachel Willmott (ENG) bt Anna Batool Kardar (PAK) 9-0, 9-0, 9-1