Professional squash returns to Cardiff during May when the second men’s Welsh Open championships are played at Rhiwbina SRC.
Welsh players Joel Makin, Peter Creed and Emyr Evans could all be eligible to compete in the Professional Squash Association $10,000 World Tour tournament.
Rhiwbina launched the Welsh Open a year ago, bringing a PSA event to Wales for the first time in a decade, and this years event runs from Wednesday, May 9 to Sunday, May 12.
Leicester’s George Parker, now at 76 in the World rankings, won the title last year when Creed, who plays out of the Rhiwbina club, reached the semi-finals.
It was a hugely successful week of squash for Rhiwbina with sell-out attendances attracted for the later rounds.
A total of 30 players from in and around the World’s top 100 entered and there were 16 players in the main tournament which followed qualifying rounds.
There were competitors from Pakistan, India, England, Scotland, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Kuwait, Ireland and hosts Wales in the first round.
Rhiwbina is in the North of Cardiff, a few miles outside the city centre and a five minute drive to the M4 motorway, and the squash club is part of a recreation club which hosts rugby, indoor and outdoor bowls, tennis, table tennis and social sections.
There are four squash courts and two of those are glass back with seating for spectators.
The Welsh players who could be involved are Makin, the World number 41 from Haverfordwest, Rhiwbina’s Creed (WR 58) and Cardiff-born Evans (WR 131).
Makin joined the PSA World Tour in 2013 and has climbed the World Rankings ever since.
His appearance in a tournament final came in 2014 at the Gdansk Open when he lost out to James Earles over four games, while he was runner-up at the Swiss Open the following year.
Makin claimed his first World Tour title at the City of Greater Bendigo International in 2015 and broke into the World’s top 50 last year.
Creed, who trained under six-time British Open Champion Jonah Barrington, reached his first World Tour final at the Festina PSA Squash Open, while his first title was at the Wroclaw Open five years ago.
Caerphilly-born Creed, currently ranked 58 in the World, has been crowned champion in the British Virgin Islands Open, Charing Cross Classic, Florida Open and more.
He has won the Welsh closed squash title seven times.
Evans, 21, the younger brother of women’s World number 12 Tesni, lives in Rhyl, is number 131 in the rankings and his form is such that he could well compete in the Welsh Open.
More than 130 tickets have already been sold for the 2018 event and Rhiwbina SRC are expecting big attendances at the May tournament.