LONDON, Oct 12: The draws for 2004 British Open squash championships have, predictably enough, thrown the world's top ranked players, Lee Beachill of England and Rachael Grinham of Australia, into top seeded positions to reach the finals in Nottingham next month.
Following its highly-successful inaugural year in 2003, the tournament returns to Nottingham from 29 Oct to 6 Nov, with final stages of the event being staged on all-glass court at the city's Albert Hall from Nov2 following earlier rounds and qualifying at Nottingham Squash Rackets Club.
Beachill heads a men's field that includes defending champion David Palmer, World No4 from Australia who also won title in 2001; and 1998 and 2002 champion Peter Nicol, World No3 from England who was runner-up last year.
Beachill, 26, faces Malaysia's World No22 Ong Beng Hee in first round and is seeded to reach final for the first time in his career. Fourth seed Palmer takes on a qualifier in first round, and later expected to meet Beachill in semifinals.
Third seed Nicol, makes his tenth British Open appearance this Year and begins his 2004 campaign with a first round match against Davide Bianchetti, Italian who surprisingly unseated former Scot in second round of last year's World Open in Pakistan.
Nicol's semifinal opponent is scheduled to be Thierry Lincou, second seed from France who is also seeded to make his final debut. Local interest in men's event will be led by Scotland's seventh seeded John White, who faces Pakistan No1 Mansoor Zaman in opening round.
Simon Parke begins his 12th British Open campaign since 1991 in a clash with compatriot Adrian Grant, 11th seed. Parke, is currently enjoying excellent run of form, with appearances in both the final of English Open in August and quarterfinals of the US Open in September as a qualifier.
Jonathon Power, Canadian World No9 and former British Open Champion who lost astonishingly to Nicol from a winning position in last year's semifinals, decided to miss British Open this year in favour of Canadian Classic in Toronto, but is geared to meet Nicol in a special Challenge match at Lambs Club in London on Oct 28.
Nottingham seedings predict a repeat of 2003 women's final between Rachael Grinham and England's second seeded Cassie Jackman, Grinham's predecessor as World No1. -PPI