Australian Squash Tour returns to NSW North Coast
Published Tue 15 Aug 2023
The fifth leg of the Australian Squash Tour touches down in Coffs Harbour from Wednesday at the 2023 Costa North Coast Open.
The tournament is a PSA Challenger 12 event and features many of Australia’s top-ranked players in both the men’s and women’s draws.
Australia’s highest-ranked player Jess Turnbull returns for her first tournament since defending the Australian National Championship in June, and will be keen to go one-better than last year.
The top seed made it through to the 2022 final but was unable to get past Hong Kong’s Chan Sin Yuk who has now established herself inside the world’s top 40. Turnbull currently sits at an equal career-high ranking of 64, while India’s world number 73 and two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Joshna Chinappa is the next highest-ranked player in the women’s draw.
Seven Australians feature in the 16-draw women’s competition, including Sarah Cardwell, Alex Haydon (pictured) and members of the junior women’s team recent World Junior Championships, Erin Classen and Madison Lyon.
Joseph White enters the men’s competition as the top-ranked Australian player, with Malaysians Addeen Idrakie and Ivan Yuen filling the top two seeds.
Like Turnbull, Idrakie will be looking to turn the tables on his 2022 result when he gave up a 2-1 lead in a marathon 78-minute loss to Rex Hedrick in the final.
White and fellow Aussie Rhys Dowling both bowed out in the round of 16 last year and have received byes into the second round this week.
In total, 10 Australians will start in the men’s draw including World Cup representative Nick Calvert, resurgent Australian National Championship semi-finalist Dylan Molinaro and World Junior Championship representative Oscar Curtis.
This week’s event provides a good opportunity to shake up the Australian Squash Tour standings. The top seven players on the women’s rankings are all taking part in Coffs Harbour, while a host of men will be looking to close the margin or overtake Ryan Cuskelly’s current lead.
The tournament starts on Wednesday at 6pm and fans can catch the action live at Coffs Harbour Squash & Swim Centre. The finals will be played on Sunday afternoon with the PSA events coinciding with graded and junior competitions, junior clinics and coaching and referee workshops.
For more event information, visit the Coffs Squash website or Facebook page.
