Oman Open Squash tourney to begin today

England have a new weapon in paceman Jofra Archer but the key to their Ashes bowling attack will be veteran opening bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Anderson and Broad, with more than 1,000 Test wickets between them, lack the sheer pace to frighten batsmen but are masters of exploiting English conditions with swing. Australia, on the other hand, have a battery of fast bowlers who could inflict real damage on England’s fragile top-order.

“Australia have bowlers who can blast you away — Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson and Josh Hazlewood,” said former England paceman Steve Harmison.

“But if they don’t get it quite right they can go at six an over. Broad and Anderson will very rarely go at six an over.

“They’ll be down on pace compared to the opposition, but they’ll have total control of what they’re doing.” Oman Open Squash Tournament 2019 will begin at the squash courts of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Thursday. The three days event — organised by Oman Squash Committee (OSC) until August 3 — will see more than 30 players in different categories including senior category, Under-17, Under-15 and Under-13 for men.

The OSC is set to begin the competitions of the first edition of squash tournament as the organising committee completed all the technical and logistical preparation for the event. The draw of the tournament and the technical meeting took place late on Wednesday where the participants got briefed about the rules and regulations of the tournament.

From this edition of the tournament, the OSC will implement the ranking points for the local players which will act as a reference in the forthcoming tournaments and competitions.

Since the formation of OSC in January, the OSC board has took steps for the development of this sport in the Sultanate. The main target for the board members is to boost the sport among different categories. In addition to that, efforts are on to upgrade the technical level of the local players and support them to compete in international level.

OSC aims through this first official tournament after formation the committee to increase the number of squash players in the Sultanate. The technical team of OSC will identify the potential athletes to form the Sultanate team in the near future to take part in the regional and international squash events. Moreover, the agenda of OSC for the existing year include series of the senior and junior levels tournaments and championships.

Many cash prizes are awaiting the top winners in the tournament.