International Line Up for NZ Southern Open

Invercargill's Squash City has bought equipment to live stream the New Zealand Southern Open on June 23-26.

The NZ Southern Open, for men, is sponsored by the Invercargill Licensing Trust and Community Trust of Southland. It is part of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) world tour. Three PSA tournaments are being held in New Zealand this month, with the Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers International Squash Classic and Christchurch International Open both just finishing. 

Squash City is in its third and final year of staging PSA events. The club had not decided on whether to pursue more hosting rights, president Grant Smail said.

Smail believed by buying live streaming equipment it would save the club money in the long term. The club paid for a Nelson contractor to live stream its last two PSA events.

"We can live stream other tournaments . . . it's an investment for us moving forward," Smail said.

The Southern Open's top seed, Paul Coll, is New Zealand No 1 and ranked 34th in the world. He is playing in all three NZ PSA events this month and will be looking to make this his third PSA title in a row. Lance Beddoes and Evan Williams are also in the main draw with Ben Frindrod being given the WildCard for this event. 

"We've got the top five Southland players [in the qualifying section] . . . they'll have a good chance," Smail said.

Players, who don't qualify or are beaten in the first round, can compete in the Squash City Open which is held on June 24-26.

You can watch the excitement of qualifying games from 5:30pm Tuesday here

Draws for the PSA event can be found here