WORLD SQUASH NEWS Unbeaten Nicol Closes In On Jansher's Super Series Finals Record Top seed Peter Nicol will start next week's Brit Insurance Super Series Squash Finals in London defending an unbeaten record in 2003 as he aims to equal Jansher Khan's record of four Super Series Finals titles. The prestigious PSA Tour event, from 12-16 May, will be staged on a state-of-the-art all-glass court erected on Broadgate Arena, adjacent to Liverpool Street station in the City of London. The 30-year-old world No1 from England, 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. "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," said Nicol. The draw, announced today by Tournament Promoters, WSM, sees Nicol head-up the Fleet Group alongside France's world No6 Thierry Lincou, England team-mate Lee Beachill, and former Scotland team-mate Martin Heath - a late replacement for the injured Australian 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," added the Super Series Finals favourite. Nicol opens his title bid against Beachill on Monday evening. England's fastest rising squash talent is one of two players making their Super Series Finals debuts next week. Anthony Ricketts, Australia's 24-year-old world No7, is the other. He is drawn in the Harrow Group alongside Scotland's world No4 John White, Canadian world No3 Jonathon Power and Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee, who replaced world No5 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 No1 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." The 2002 qualifying events for the 2003 Brit Insurance Super Series Finals included: the Tournament of Champions (New York), the Pakistan Open, the British Open, the PSA Masters in Qatar, the Hong Kong Open, the Qatar Classic and the World Open in Antwerp. The Draw (Seeds in brackets) Fleet Group Peter Nicol, England (1) Thierry Lincou, France (4) Lee Beachill, England (5) Martin Heath, Scotland (7) Harrow Group Jonathon Power, Canada (2) John White, Scotland (3) Anthony Ricketts, Australia (6) Ong Beng Hee, Malaysia (8) Match Schedule (Matches commence at 5pm daily) Monday 12th May Heath v Lincou Nicol v Beachill Power v Beng Hee White v Ricketts Tuesday 13th May Power v Ricketts White v Beng Hee Heath v Beachill Nicol v Lincou Wednesday 14th May Beachill v Lincou Nicol v Heath Power v White Ricketts v Beng Hee Thursday 15th May Semi-Final 1 (Winner of Harrow Group v Runner-Up Fleet Group) Semi-Final 2 (Winner of Fleet Group v Runner-Up Harrow Group) Friday 16th May 3rd Place Play-Off Final (7pm)