BERMUDA'S Melrindo Caines will have his work cut out for him when he takes on Australian Karen Kronemeyer tonight in an exhibition match before the Bermuda National Squash Championships begin in earnest on Saturday at the Devonshire courts.

Caines, who has been representing Bermuda since competing in the World Junior Championships in Hong Kong in 1992, will take on Kronemeyer at 8 p.m.

The Aussie plays professionally and has been ranked as high as 37 in the world and is still in the top 50.

As a junior she played for Australia at the World Junior Championships and for the past six years has been coaching in Holland and as well as playing for the Dutch national team – her adopted country.

She has played at the World and European Team Championships.

When the National Championships start tomorrow night women's national coach Denise Sommers and former professional Patrick Foster are again among the favourites to win the tournament.

There will be four divisions again this year with a main men and women's draw, and then a women's veterans (over 40) and men's veterans (over 45) competition as well. Organisers are hoping that around 150 players will compete in the tournament that runs from February 14-21.

Foster is expected to face a strong challenge from Bermuda's best ever player, Nick Kyme, who at one point was ranked 63rd in the world and was the youngest ever competitor at a World Championships when he played in the Junior Worlds in Hong Kong at just 11-years-old.

Another player to watch will be Micah Franklin who is seeded number three despite being only 16 years old and is the future of the sport in Bermuda.

Franklin won the National Junior Athlete Award in 2008 in squash as a result of which he competed in the US and Canadian Junior Squash Championships. He had a very successful Junior Caribbean Squash Championship, and has been training extremely hard and competing in senior competition at every opportunity.

Foster said of the teenager: "Micah is a fabulous young squash player. He has a great attitude when it comes to training and applying himself, and he has the potential to be our next Nick Kyme or James Stout."

There will be a number of other juniors competing in the Men's Division, including Elijah Simmons, 18, Korin Knights 16, DeVario Thompson 14, and in the Women's Division there will be Emma Keane, Alex Marshall and Jennifer Ince.

Sommers, a former female professional who represented Holland in numerous world class events, has largely been too strong for the Bermuda's female competitors, but may face a challenge this year from new arrivals, Leah Bishop and Suzy Stones, who are unknown quantities in the local game.

Last year's women's veterans winner Liz Martin has been training hard for this year's event, but will face a strong challenge from former multiple champion Denise Kyme. While in the men's veterans category, anyone of 12 to 16 players could walk away with the trophy.