January
5th 2019. - Top seed Charlie Lee was forced to withdraw from this week’s
Colin Payne Kent Open at the weekend because of illness.
Charlie, from Surrey, contacted tournament organisers and the PSA to
inform them that he was suffering from post-viral fatigue.
This has caused a reshuffle of the draw, meaning that Portugal’s
highly talented Rui Soares moves up to the number one seeding slot. To
minimise disruption to the draw, he remains in the bottom half.
Belgium
No.1 Jan Van Den Herrewegen becomes No.2 seed, with Mexico’s Leonel
Cardenas at No.3 and England’s Stuart Macgregor at four. Stuart plays
Kent’s wild card Ben Ford, a long-time friend and playing partner of
Colin Payne, in the first round on Thursday afternoon.
Charlie was extremely disappointed to pull out and sent the following
message to Tunbridge Wells members: “Unfortunately I have had to
withdraw from the tournament due to the continuation of post-viral
fatigue. It’s been troubling me since late October and I was really
hoping to be fit for the event but it’s just come too soon.
“At this stage I have to be sensible to avoid going to back to square
one. I’ve been really improving in the last couple of weeks so barring
slips ups I am hoping to be back soon. Best of luck with the event and
my sincerest apologies in withdrawing.”
There
will be keen interest on the performance of Yorkshire’s Nick Wall in
Thursday’s first round.
The 18-year-old left-hander from Sheffield played his last match as a
junior by finishing runner-up to Egypt’s Mostafa Asal in the Dunlop
British Junior Open Under-19 final in Birmingham on Sunday 6th Jan 2019.
In Thursday’s first round, he faces a tough task against the experienced
No.5 seed Mark Fuller from Nottingham.
Wall is among a group of talented young English players being mentored
by three-times world champion Nick Matthew, who has twice been
victorious on visits to Kent when the tournament began life as the
Maidstone Open.
Schedule
BUSY DAY: The tournament begins on Thursday with the first round
starting at 1pm, with eight matches on two courts. Between the two
sessions we will be inviting our juniors on court for some coaching with
a couple of guest professionals.
QUARTER-FINALS: From the Quarter-Finals onwards, all the action
takes place on the Picton Court. The Quarter-Finals start at 6pm on
Thursday.
SEMI-FINALS AND LIGHTNING ROUND: The two Semi-Finals begin at 7pm
on Friday, and will be preceded by the Lightning Round competition. This
is a fun shoot-out, with each player needing to win three points to stay
on court to take on the next challenger. The last person standing
pockets £50, so please get your names down on the board.
FINALS DAY: We will have some Coaching Clinics with some guest
professionals on Saturday before the Doubles Competition for the Colin
Payne Shield.
The Collins Jewel Women’s Challenge between rising English stars Elise
Lazarus and Jasmine Hutton begins at 5pm, followed by the Kent Open
final at 6pm. This will be followed by the presentation ceremony and
tournament party.
COLIN PAYNE KENT OPEN (PSA Challenger Tour 5k event) Sponsored by
Select Gaming at Tunbridge Wells Squash Club, Kent, England.
First Round Draw (seeding number in brackets).
Matches start 1pm Thursday January 10th.
(2) Jan Van Den Herrewegen (Bel) v Nick Mulvey (Eng)
(7) Ben Coates (Eng) v Rohan Toole (Aus)
(5) Mark Fuller (Eng) v Nick Wall (Eng)
(4) Stuart Macgregor (Eng) v (WC) Ben Ford (Eng)
(3) Leonel Cardenas (Mex) v Charlie Cowie (Eng)
(8) Connor Sheen (Eng) v Viktor Byrtus (Cze)
(7) Miles Jenkins (Eng) v Harry Falconer (Eng)
(1) Rui Soares (Por) v Mike Harris (Eng)
Former Tunbridge Wells number one Colin Payne was a professional player
who reached the world top 50 and appeared for Kent on more than 100
occasions. He died in a domestic incident in Dartford in 2016.
He was county champion five times, won the Kent over-35 title on ten
occasions and, during the year of his death, he won the British Over-50s
Championship.
Payne owned the Ripples chain of bathroom stores in Tunbridge Wells,
Reigate and Brighton.
His long-time friend Ben Ford, who is club coach at Bexley, has been
awarded the Wild Card in the draw and faces No.4 seed Stuart Macgregor
in the first round.
1: Charlie Lee (England)
2: Rui Soares (Portugal)
3: Jan Van Den Herrewegen (Belgium)
4: Leonel Cardenas (Mexico)
We also have a Women's Challenge match on Finals Day featuring rising
stars Elise Lazarus and Jaz Hutton.
Earlier on the Saturday afternoon we will have a special doubles
competition in memory of Tunbridge Wells and Kent squash legend Colin
Payne.
RAFFLE: Raffle tickets will be on sale throughout the tournament and we have
some wonderful prizes, including a two-night break for two at The Spa
Hotel in Tunbridge Wells, including bed and breakfast and dinner on one
night.
TICKETS: Viewing space is limited but you can reserve a seat here:
Tickets
Looking forward to a fantastic tournament.
Here's wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New
Year. Alan Thatcher
A
