09 May

 

UNBEATEN NICOL CLOSES IN ON KHAN’S SUPER SERIES FINALS RECORD

Top Seed Peter Nicol will start next week’s Brit Insurance Super Series Squash Finals at London’s Broadgate Arena defending an unbeaten record in 2003 as he aims to equal Jansher Khan’s record of four Super Series Finals titles.

England’s 30-year-old world No.1, whose fine form in 2003 has seen him secure individual titles at The British Nationals and The Tournament of Champions and team victory for England at last week’s European Championships, will be looking to add a fourth Super Series Finals crown to the titles he won in 1999, 2000 and 2001. In doing so, his name would feature alongside the great Jansher Khan’s as a record four-time winner of the event. (SuperSeries History)

“I’m unbeaten so far in 2003 so it’s fair to say that my confidence is pretty high right now. Tactically I’m playing better than ever,” commented Nicol, who caused headline news around the world in March 2001 by ‘defecting’ from his Scottish country of birth, to compete for England.

“So far as records are concerned, of course I’m aware of what the Khans achieved but I don’t set out to chase their records. Jansher won 99 PSA titles in his career and Jahangir was unbeaten for 6 years! I’ve got 43 titles to my name so there’s still some way to go! You just concentrate on what you need to do and try to win every time you go out there. My goal is simply to play each event to the best of my ability.”

The draw, announced today by Tournament Promoters, WSM, sees Nicol head-up the Fleet Group alongside France’s world No.6, Thierry Lincou, England team-mate Lee Beachill, and former Scotland team-mate Martin Heath – a late replacement for the injured David Palmer, whose withdrawal prevented him defending the title he won last year.

Of his former Scotland team-mate, Nicol said: “Martin has been a little inconsistent over the past year-and-a-half, but he’s one of the most talented players on the circuit. He’s got great racket skills. Much depends upon whether you catch him on a good day or not. On his day, if he’s up for it, he’s very hard to beat.

“Lee is a more steady player. He’s just back from injury and played OK at the European Team Championships last week. That was his first competition since March so he’ll be even stronger next week. He’s a very, very good player.”

Nicol opens his title bid against Beachill on Monday evening. England’s fastest rising squash talent, Beachill is one of two players making their Super Series Finals debuts next week. Anthony Ricketts, Australia’s 24-year-old world No.7, is the other. He is drawn in the Harrow Group alongside Scotland’s world No.4 John White, Canadian world No.3 Jonathon Power and Malaysia’s Ong Beng Hee, who replaced world No.5 Stewart Boswell last night after the Australian became the second player to withdrew from the event - suffering a recurrence of a back injury.

Jonathon Power, the 28-year-old former world No.1 and 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, will be hoping to clinch his first Super Series Finals title in what will be his fourth attempt. Since making his PSA Tour debut back in 1991 Power has amassed a total of 29 PSA titles, including the World Open and the British Open. The Super Series Finals however, is one title that has so far eluded him.

The Brit Insurance Super Series Finals brings together the top 8 qualifiers from the annual PSA Super Series Tour and is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious events in world squash. Next week’s event at Broadgate, the culmination of the 2002 Super Series Tour, will be staged for the fifth consecutive year in a specially constructed all-glass court in the heart of London’s financial district. The tournament is presented by The British Land Company PLC, owners of Broadgate Arena.

Commenting on the event, Nicol said: “The Super Series Finals is a very, very important event. You’re playing against the top eight players in the world for the right to be crowned champion of the Super Series Tour. It’s a true reflection of the level of your game. You play five matches in five days against the top players in the world and there’s no rest day, so physically it’s very demanding. It’s a very hard event and it’s always an important date in the calendar.

“For me, it’s also great to play in front of my home crowd. We play tournaments all over the world and it’s not often that we get to play back here. It’s definitely a very different feeling playing in front of your home crowd and one I really enjoy.”

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The qualifying events for the 2003 Brit Insurance Super Series Finals included:

The 2002 Tournament of Champions (New York), the 2002 Pakistan Open, the 2002 British Open, the 2002 PSA Masters in Qatar, the 2002 Hong Kong Open, the 2002 Qatar Classic and the 2002 World Open in Antwerp. How they got here


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Ian McKenzie
reports on Nicol's
S/Series Hat-Trick

 


2001


2000


1999

 

 

 

 

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