Challenger Tour Weekly Preview: Action In Europe and Oceania

The Challenger Tour features two tournaments this week, with the action coming from both Europe and Oceania.

Those tournaments follow on form a week which saw four tournaments, three of which took place on American soil. Austria’s Aqeel Rehman was the victor on the outdoor steel court at the Maspeth Squash Open, the first tournament of its kind on the Tour.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Kenzy Ayman and Spaniard Bernat Jaume were victorious in Houston. Ayman won the Champion Fiberglass Women’s Open, while Jaume took the title at the HSC International Open. The other event last week was the Harcourts KDRE Morrinsville Open, which saw Dutchman Rowan Damming claim the title.

This week, two long-standing events on the Challenger Tour return. The Gibraltar Open returns for its 11th edition, while the City of Greater Bendigo International will be played for the 7th time in its history.

Here is what is coming up this week on Tour…

Gibraltar Open
The Gibraltar Open returns for its 11th edition this week, with the tournament being held at the Europa Sports Centre once more, starting on Wednesday, June 28.

The likes of Nick Wall, Raphael Kandra, Sebastien Bonmalais and Alison Thomson have all won this tournament, with Spain’s Edmon Lopez and Egypt’s Rana Ismail winning the event last year.

Lopez returns to Gibraltar to defend his crown, but he will not be seeded for the Challenger 5 level competition. The Czech Republic’s Martin Svec will be the top seed in the men’s draw this week, with Ivan Perez being the leading Spaniard.The Welsh duo of Owain Taylor and Emyr Evans, along with the English pair of James Peach and Perry Malik, will all be in the top eight.

Marta Dominguez Fernandez will be the women’s top seed, after making the short trip to Gibraltar from her homeland of Spain. The English trio of Torrie Malik, Saran Nghiem and Kiera Marshall, along with Singapore’s Au Yeong Wai Yhann, Austria’s Jacqueline Peychar, Frenchwoman Lauren Baltayan and Danish No.1 Klara Moller, will all be seeded.

City of Greater Bendigo International
Another returning event this week is the City of Greater Bendigo International, which returns to the PSA Challenger Tour for the seventh time.

The Challenger 3 level competition gets underway on Thursday, June 29, and defending men’s champion Bryan Lim Tze Kang will return to Bendigo to try and defend his title this week.

The Malaysian will be the No.4 seed, and one of three Malaysians in the top eight seeds. He will be joined by Hafiz Zhafri and Amir Amirul, while Dutchman Rowan Damming will be the tournament’s top seed. Sri Lanka’s Ravindu Laksiri, Denmark’s Theis Houlberg and Frenchman Brice Nicolas join Australian Nicholas Calvert, the leading home hope, in the top eight.

India’s Urwashi Joshi will be the women’s top seed, with the Australian duo of Sophie Fadaely and Erin Classen aiming to win on home soil. Malta’s Colette Sultana joins the Pakistani pair of Noor ul Huda and Aiman Shahbaz and the South Korean duo of Mingyeong Heo and Yura Choe in the eight seeds for the competition.

This Week’s Schedule:
Gibraltar Open: Wednesday, June 28 – Saturday, July 1
City of Greater Bendigo International: Thursday, June 29 – Sunday, July 2