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06-May:
Champions Return To Defend
Dunlop British Open Masters Titles In Liverpool
Nine defending champions will compete in the
Dunlop British Open Masters
- Liverpool 2008 in one of the strongest entries
in the history of the world's largest annual Masters squash
event.
Thirteen age-group events, ranging from men's and women's
Over-35 categories to men's Over-70, will run in conjunction
with Dunlop British Open
– Liverpool 2008 men’s and women’s championships
which will be held at the city's new
ECHO Arena Liverpool
from 10-12 May, following qualifying and early rounds at the
Liverpool Cricket Club
from 6 May.
Such has been the demand for places in the Masters draws in
the event's first ever appearance in Liverpool that
Crosby Northern Sports Club
have agreed to support the championships as a hosting
partner, alongside the
ECHO Arena Liverpool and
Liverpool Cricket Club.
Crosby Northern Sports Club will host Masters matches on
Thursday 8th and Friday 9th May 2008 from 9.00am to 10.00pm.
"I would just like to say how pleased we are at Crosby
Northern Sports Club to have been selected to host the first
two days of the Dunlop British Open Masters Tournament,"
said the club's Squash Chairman
Roy Grainger. "As
this is the premier event in the squash calendar, we are
eagerly looking forward to seeing some of the best squash in
the country being played on our own doorstep."
England High Performance Coach
David Campion is
top seed in the Men's Over-35 championship. Runner-up in
the 1990 World Junior Championship, the Yorkshireman is
appearing in his first Masters event.
 Dutchman
Lucas Buit is
seeded to retain his title in the Over-40 event. The
nine-time national champion is expected to face Manchester's
Yawar Abbas,
the British National Over-40 champion, in the final.
Gloucestershire's 2006 champion
Mark Woodliffe is
expected to reclaim the Over-45 crown he lost last year. It
could be a Woodliffe family double - as father
John Woodliffe is
also seeded to reach the Over-70 final. But the reigning
World Masters
champion will have stiff opposition from fellow Surrey
veteran Pat Kirton,
the defending champion who is seeded to win his ninth
Masters title!
Peter Alexander,
the Over-50 title-holder from Suffolk, is seeded to reach
the 2008 final - but it is Lancashire's
Ian Bradburn, the
reigning National champion in the age-group who is seeded to
win.
 Yorkshireman
Ian Parke is
returning from his home in Brno, in the Czech
Republic, to defend his title in the Men's Over-55 event.
Philip Ayton
is the overwhelming favourite in the Over-60 championship
having followed his victory in last year's British Open
event by winning the National title too in February.
Further Yorkshire success is also expected in the Men's
Over-65 event where Hull-based
Mike Clemson is
expected to retain the title.
A new champion is predicted in the Women's Over-35
championship where National champion
Jeannine Cowie,
from Wigan, is expected to face last year's runner-up
Claire Walker,
from Yorkshire, in the final.
In the Over-40 event, former Dutch international
Nicole Beumer is
favourite to win her maiden British Masters crown in a final
featuring last year's winner
Ellie Pierce,
from the USA.
 The
2007 Women's Over-45 champion
Victoria King,
from Middlesex, is also expected to reach the 2008 final -
but the event's top seed is Lincolnshire's
Fran Wallis, the
National champion in the age category.
Reigning Over-50 National champion
Helen Gould, from
Avon, is expected to add the British Open crown to her
collection in Liverpool.
It is a similar tale in the Over-55 championship where
National champion Averil
Murphy is the favourite. But the Essex veteran
will undoubtedly have still opposition from Worcestershire's
defending champion Bett
Dryhurst.
Full details of the
2007 Masters Finals
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