SQUASH - Injury no bar to top-class spectacle

Whangarei squash fans won't miss out if Malaysian Ong Beng Hee's back injury stops him playing tomorrow, - a more-than-adequate replacement is waiting in the wings.
Northland development manager Peter Gearing said former English Open champion Anthony Ricketts will step in as cover to replace world No9 Hee for the exhibition match against world No13 Mohd Azlan Iskander at the Whangarei Squash Centre in Tarewa Rd.
Hee was forced to retire from his first-round match at the Bayfair International tournament in Tauranga on Saturday and yesterday it was still not known whether his injury would keep him from playing.
Gearing said the association had taken a bit of a financial gamble to bring the Malaysian pair to Whangarei, but he had been "blown away" by the response.
"I think it goes to show how much interest there is in squash in Northland and this is reflected by the amount of tickets we've sold and indeed in the increasing numbers of juniors we've got playing the game," he said.
He said almost 100 of the $25 seated tickets had been reserved or sold, leaving around 10 tickets to sell - ensuring the club won't lose money on the promotion. Casual sales on the night would enable those who missed out on tickets to watch the match, although they might have to stand.
"Putting on events like this are always a bit of a worry because there is always a bit of money involved, but it looks as though we'll break even and maybe even make a bit on top with a few of the Whangarei club members digging deep to sponsor the event," Gearing said.
Ricketts, who retired from the professional tour this year, was instrumental in setting the match up when visiting Whangarei recently in his new role as a high performance coach for NZ Squash.
"He came up to have a look at our set-up and to coach our junior squads and wanted to get Shelley Kitchen to play a match but, when he found out that these guys were coming over for the Bayfair International in Tauranga this weekend, he organised to get them up here to play the day before they fly out," Gearing said. "In some ways we're piggy-backing off the Tauranga event, but it's a win-win situation - they get an extra pay-day and we get to watch some top quality squash."
A former English professional, Ricketts is perhaps better known in the North as Shelley Kitchen's partner. He arranged for the Malaysian players to spend some time coaching some of Northland's top young players on Tuesday afternoon before they play their exhibition match.