Bermuda's top squash player Nick Kyme has expressed his "extreme disappointment" at the Professional Squash Association's decision not to grant the 22-year-old a wildcard into the first round of the Bermuda Open.

During the Bermuda Squash Racquet Association's dealings with the PSA over the establishment of the prestigious, $55,000 tournament, to be held in late March, the Island's squash chief Ross Triffitt had said that he was "quietly confident" that Kyme would be given the go-ahead.

The Australian revealed yesterday however, that he was now in receipt of a short e-mail from the PSA which states that the executive committee has decided that Kyme's world ranking of 114 does not merit a free ride into the first round of a 16 man tournament, which has attracted interest from all of the world's top players.

These will include former world number one Peter Nicol and world number six and current Bermuda resident David Palmer of Australia.

"I have to admit that I'm pretty upset and annoyed about it," Kyme said.

"I had been led to believe that a precedent had already been set over this type of thing during a smaller tournament in Qatar not so long back.

"I had never got too excited over my chances, but everybody involved with the process on the Island was pretty upbeat about the probability of me getting it."

As it stands, there is no mechanism for Kyme to appeal the decision.

Unless he pulls off two unlikely wins in the qualifying draw preceding the tournament against opponents in the top 30 in the world, there will, in all likelihood, be no Bermudian in the main draw.

Triffitt admitted to that he was disappointed and "surprised" by the decision, though he did not wish to comment in detail until after the Association has formulated a response.

"The situation is tricky and I cannot go into great detail," he said.

"When we were negotiating the event with the PSA, there were many positive noises being made about the wildcard and by the time I put forward Nick's name, I was pretty sure he would get it.

"One of the main reasons we have established this tournament, after all, is to improve local squash and give our best players the chance to play on level they may well have never experienced before.

"The PSA knew all about that, so I don't really know what happened," he continued.

"I do appreciate where they are coming from to a certain extent; given the size of the tournament, I can understand why they might not approve of somebody outside the top 100 getting an automatic place. But there is much more to the issue than that and I am not going to comment further at the moment. I do feel very sorry for him - but it is just one of those things"

Triffitt revealed that the BSRA will be releasing an official response to the decision on Monday, once the executive committee has had time to confer.

The decision was particularly frustrating for Kyme because if he had secured a place in the main draw, he was set to gain a minimum of 80 ranking points ? enough to catapult him into the world's top 80 players.

The tournament was viewed by many involved with the squash star as a launching pad for his fledgling career, with the higher ranking entitling him to entry into much bigger tournaments, with all the extra money and greater exposure that goes with them.

Kyme will earn a minimum of 30 ranking points by attempting to qualify for the Open.