Squash: Marshall and Nicol's world quest

(First Edition)

NO BRITISH man has reached a World Open final, but an Englishman and a Scotsman may be sharing a semi-final court on Saturday to decide which of them creates a piece of squash history.

Peter Marshall and Peter Nicol are playing well enough even to dream of halting Jansher Khan's attempt at equalling the record of six titles at the World Open starting here today

Marshall, the 23-year-old British champion, scored a timely first win over the top-seeded holder from Pakistan four days ago in the final of the European Club Championships in Paris.

Nicol, the 21-year-old Scottish champion, did the same thing seven months ago in Cardiff. If one of them repeats the victory on Sunday he will prove himself undeniably the most successful British male player since Jonah Barrington won the last of his six British Open titles more than 20 years ago.

Nicol will almost certainly need to repeat his victory of two weeks ago in Hong Kong against the world No 2 from Australia, Brett Martin, if this exciting scenario is to be realised. Marshall's quarter-final may be just as difficult, as it is likely to be against the younger of the Martin brothers, Rodney, the 1991 world champion.