James Stout has been named as one of Europe's top 100 junior squash players while compatriot Nick Kyme has been ranked sixth among US collegiate players.

Stout, who turned professional earlier this month, has been competing on the junior circuit across the Atlantic and has so far played in the Scottish, British and Irish Opens, securing a fifth place finish in the latter.

His ranking of 99 is based solely on his performance in Scotland, as the other two tournaments will not be taken into account until next month's standings are released.

Kyme, meanwhile, was considered the seventh best player among college players in the US College Squash Association's listings at the start of the season but moved up one place when the latest figures were released.

Bermuda's director of squash, Ross Triffitt, was understandably delighted at the news.

Though Stout has competed for Bermuda overseas on numerous occasions, this is the first time he has played on his own at such a level.

“It has been a question of getting used to competing in these international events by himself,” said Triffitt. “He doesn't have a support crew; no one is there talking to him between games.

“He is certainly up for it. However, the travel schedule has been a bit hectic and he has had a lot of squash in a short space of time, no more than he would play here, but the pressure of every match takes its toll.”

Stout, who is in the Under-19 division, is eligible to play junior events until August when he graduates to senior competition. That means he will not be playing the number of tournaments necessary for him to get enough points to enable him to figure at the higher end of the table.

“The unfortunate thing is he is coming to the end of his junior career,” said Triffitt. “We are now starting to focus on his senior ranking and looking to his professional career and for that reason we are not entering him in a lot of junior events. As a result his end of year ranking will probably be based solely on the three events he has already competed in.”

That said, Triffitt said he was still looking forward to Stout playing in the Bank of Bermuda Foundation Junior Open where he will get to play on home soil and the Junior Caribbean Championships in Guyana.

By the time August comes around Triffitt said he hoped Stout would have already made some headway into the professional rankings.

“He will play his first professional event in March, which will actually be our National Championships,” said Triffitt. “By the time James finishes his junior career he will already have a bit of a head start in playing professionally and will have some points to work with.”

Triffitt said Kyme's ranking was just reward for the Island's number one player who had been overlooked in the past.

“He has made it to the semi-finals of the Intercollegiate Championships but he has never really benefited in the rankings. He has been overlooked in the past few years,” he said.

“They (USCA) ranked him seventh at the start of the season and they have now moved him up to number six. Because of that he will now have the benefit of having a seeding going into the end of season (NCAA) tournament. That will be a boost to him because he will have a few easier matches in the earlier rounds.”

Bermuda's national rankings were also released yesterday (see Sports Scoreboard), the main mover among them being Commonwealth Games player Tommy Sherratt who moves up from six to three among the men.

“It's very, very even between Tommy, Nick Wiffen and Chase Toogood,” said Triffitt. “They are all fairly close. Chase made the final of the club championships last March, but based on Tommy's performances at the Commonwealth Games and the Pan American Championships and recent events he has moved up.”

Among the junior boys Triffitt singled out Robert Forbes in the Under-13s. He made the final of the recent BIAS tournament and is ranked third.

Fraser Moore in the Under-17s has been improving and moves up to sixth in the Under-17s, while newcomer Nikita Wells is eighth in the Under-13s.

The women have not had the opportunity to compete against each other as much as the men, but Tessa McKenzie is ranked one with Lynn Furtado second and Liz Martin third.

In the juniors, Morgan Lightbourne has been moving up steadily and is third in the Under-19s and Kristan Law has returned to the rankings at five in the same division.

Laura Robinson, meanwhile, tops three rankings at Under-19, Under-17 and Under-15 level.

“She is definitely one of the best junior players on the Island,” said Triffitt.

Michael Shrubb finished runner-up in the Boys Under-17 division at the Choate Junior Squash Championships in Connecticut at the weekend.

Shrubb, who was ranked number two, cruised through the early rounds but was eventually beaten by number one seed Morgan Phillips in the final.

“Sometimes we forget how good our kids are,” said Triffitt. “I guess you could say the result went according to plan but it was a bit of a surprise to us here that our kids are now getting seeded in these events and are making finals.”