WITH the Endurance World Squash Open being staged in Bermuda for the first time later this month, the event's chairman, Kim Carter, looks at some of the stars who will be turning up hoping to be crowned World Champion.

If you ask a squash enthusiast who will win the Endurance World Open Bermuda 2007 it's often met with some 'ums' and 'ahs' and even an occasional scratch of the head. This is all for very good reason. The current depth of field at the top level of squash is staggering. It could be argued that the Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour has never been as competitive as it is today. Long gone are the days when men's squash was dominated by one or two players and with the recent retirement of two living legends, Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power, the competition for the top spots has never been fiercer. The Endurance World Open Bermuda 2007 will be televised to a potential television audience of over two billion people and it has attracted 56 top athletes from 33 countries and six continents, all with their eyes firmly on the title of World Champion. Only one man will take home that title and we will all have to wait until the last ball is hit to see who reigns supreme. In this snapshot we will examine the current world rankings of some of the top contenders, along with their performances in previous World Opens. For details of their achievements in other major tournaments you can go online to www.psa-squash.com.

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Let's start with Amr Shabana of Egypt (World #1). Players have often said that when Shabana is on form he's unbeatable. Shabana should also feel at home in Bermuda, after winning the Virtual Spectator Bermuda Masters in April of 2006, cheered on by enthusiastic Bermudian fans. That win pushed him to the #1 spot for the first time in his career and since then no one has been able to take it from him. This has put Shabana in the record books as one of the longest standing World #1s of all time. Shabana has won the World Open twice (2003 & 2005) and he would dearly love to be the only man currently on the tour to own that title three times.

However, David Palmer of Australia (World #4) has other ideas. After all, he is the current World Champion and keen to defend his title, especially in Bermuda which he has made his second home. Palmer has also enjoyed the World # 1 position before (2001 & 2006) and over the last five years has never ventured far from it. He is the only man on the current tour to have competed in three World Open finals, winning two of them (2002 & 2006). In the latter his victory came in a dramatic fashion when he saved a multitude of match points before clinching victory. He is also the player with the most tour trophies to his name. Palmer is well liked in Bermuda and will have the advantage of competing in front of his home crowd.

Enter the dazzling Ramy Ashour of Egypt (World #2). In 2004 Ashour stunned the squash world by becoming the youngest World Junior Champion ever. Only two years later he added a second World Junior title and then proceeded to rocket into the top ten of the men's PSA World Tour. His meteoric climb continued and in June this year this talented 20 year old latched on to the # 2 slot and has never let go. At last year's World Open he beat Willstrop, followed by Beachill, only to lose to Gaultier in the quarter final. Since then he has beaten everyone in the top 10 and most of them more than once. Could Ashour stun the squash world once more?

Gregory Gaultier of France (World #3) is also definitely one of the top contenders for the title. Gaultier hovered around the #10 spot for three years, but in May last year he started his challenge for the top. By March 2007 he arrived at world #2 with only Shabana denying him pole position. Since then he has never dropped lower than #4. In last year's World Open he made an impressive bid for the championship when he dispatched both White and Ashour 3-0 and then went on to beat Shabana 3-1 in the semi-final. It was only Palmer who was able to stop this onslaught by the narrowest of margins, denying Gaultier his first World Open Title at the young age of 23.

Thierry Lincou of France (World #7) is no stranger to a World Open final. He was runner up to Shabana in 2003 and made amends in Qatar a year later when he earned the title of World Champion for the first time. Lincou has remained in the top 10 since the latter part of 2001 and in January 2004 took hold of the #1 position which he kept for two months. However, even better times were around the corner and in January 2005 he regained the #1 position, never allowing anyone to topple him for the whole calendar year. Lincou is only one of three people on the tour today to have competed in a World Open final twice.

James Willstrop of England (World #5) is overdue for a place in a World Open final. To date this tournament has not been kind to him. In 2005 he lost to Palmer in the semi-final, having just beaten him in the Qatar Classic that same month. In 2006 he was hospitalized with food poisoning on the eve of the tournament. This year the young Englishman is on form. In the English Grand Prix only two months ago he beat Palmer in the semi final and then went on to beat Lincou to take the title. Willstrop is England's most successful junior player and became the world's top ranked Englishman just two years after becoming a 'senior'.

John White of Scotland (World #8) can never be taken for granted. He has a wealth of experience, as well being the hardest-hitter in the game - once recording a ball stuck by his racquet at 172 mph. The Australian-born Scott has been ranked among the top dozen players for the last six years and in March of 2004 he reached the coveted #1 position. White is yet another player in this field to have been a finalist in a World Open. In 2002 he stormed his way to the final, dropping a mere two games along the way. It was Palmer who put an end to his dream by stopping him one point short of being World Champion.

Lee Beachill of England (World #11) rounds out the list of six players on the current PSA World Tour who have competed in a previous World Open final. Bermudians will remember Beachill when he won the Bermuda Open 2004. That same year he also collected the English Open and US Open titles, became World #1 and ended a great year by reaching the World Open final. In 1997 Beachill suffered a road accident and was told he would spend four months on his back and never play squash again. Eight weeks later he was back on court. His biography includes so many 'firsts' that it would be foolish to discount him from being a serious challenger for the title.

If you are wise enough to think Beachill has a good chance to win a World Open title, consider the fact that there are nine men currently above him in the world rankings. One of them is Karim Darwish of Egypt (World #9) who has a string of titles to his name and last year beat the likes of Ashour, White, Palmer, Willstrop and Beachill. In 2003 Darwish achieved a semi final placing in the World Open and in 2004 reached #5 in the world rankings. Another competitor in the top ten is Nick Matthew (World #10). Matthew also reached #5 in 2004, a feat he repeated in 2006 and 2007. Last year he beat the world's best when he snatched the coveted British Open title, overcoming Boswell, Willstrop, Darwish and Lincou along the way. There is hardly any squash player of note that Matthew has not beaten in the last two years, confirming that there is no doubt the man from Yorkshire could win the ultimate title in the world of squash this year.

The scene is set and spectators are definitely in for a treat. They will witness tremendous speed, strength; agility and stamina from what many believe are the fittest men on the planet. They will marvel at the arsenal of shots these athletes deploy and the lightning speed at which decisions are made while under pressure. They will enjoy all the thrills and spills from these "modern day gladiators" and witness history in the making when a new World Champion is crowned in Bermuda on finals night, Saturday, December 1. Our advice to you ¿ Don't miss it!