WORLD SQUASH NEWS

Lincou, Nicol & Power Squeezed Into Top Half of New York Draw

France's world No1 Thierry Lincou and two players who have won the title between them for the past six years - defending champion Peter Nicol and four-times champion Jonathon Power - are squeezed into the top half of the draw for the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions which will take place at Grand Central Station in New York from 21-26 February.

Lincou, who topped the world rankings for the first time in January, takes on Australia's Mike Corren in the first round, while Power, the sixth-seeded Canadian whom the Frenchman is scheduled to face in the quarter-finals, begins his 2004 campaign against a qualifier.

The potential Lincou-Power match-up would offer perennial New York fan favourite Power the opportunity to avenge his surprising semi-final loss in last year's tournament to the Frenchman, who was the sixth seed at the time and had never before beaten Power. 

Third seed Peter Nicol meets South Africa's Rodney Durbach in the opening round and would be expected to meet Lincou in the semi-finals.  The former world No1 from England will be competing in his first event since having to withdraw from last week's British National Championships because of exhaustion.

"Today was the first hit I've had in about a week and I felt fine," said Nicol, who is looking forward to the start of the championship that he describes as "brilliant".

Scotland's No2 seed John White, who won the British National title for the first time last week, takes on Spain's unseeded Borja Golan in the first round and is scheduled to meet England's fourth seed Lee Beachill, in a repeat of the British final, in the last four - en-route to an anticipated final clash with favourite Lincou.

1st round draw:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v Mike Corren (AUS)
[12] Paul Price (AUS) v Qualifier
[6] Jonathon Power (CAN) v Qualifier
[11] Graham Ryding (CAN) v Qualifier
[3] Peter Nicol (ENG) v Rodney Durbach (RSA)
[16] Shahier Razik (CAN) v Laurens Jan Anjema (NED)
[8] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Moh'd Azlan Iskandar (MAS)
[15] Martin Heath (SCO) v Qualifier
[14] Alex Gough (WAL) v Jonathon Kemp (ENG)
[7] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) v Qualifier
[10] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v Qualifier
[4] Lee Beachill (ENG) v Simon Parke (ENG)
[13] James Willstrop (ENG) v Dan Jenson (AUS)
[5] David Palmer (AUS) v Qualifier
[9] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Qualifier
[2] John White (SCO) v Borja Golan (ESP)