World squash champion Dave Palmer is recovering after undergoing an operation to remove his appendix.

Palmer, who was recently granted Bermudian residency, was on the Island to take part in the Logic Bermuda Squash Open tournament.

However, the Australian, ranked number three in the world, was forced to pull out at the 11th hour after falling ill over the weekend.

What was at first thought to be a stomach virus turned out to be something far more serious.

According to his coach, Shaun Moxham, the appendicitis was at an advanced stage and was diagnosed just in time by specialists at King Edward VII hospital.

Speaking last night, Moxham said: "It got to the point where it was getting a little bit gangrenous within his stomach. The appendix itself was turning gangrenous and the next stage then is for it to explode.

"When that happens it causes infection inside the body, in a lot of places where you don't want to have infection, and that then would have been very difficult for the doctors to treat. That can even go as far as being life threatening, so they got it just on time."

The procedure itself was a success, Moxham said.

"The operation went really well. They could remove it through his belly button, so they didn't have to cut through the muscles, which is great news for him, recovery wise," he said. "It probably cuts about three weeks off his recovery time."

Palmer did not go under the knife until about 5 a.m. yesterday but Moxham hopes he may be allowed out of hospital sometime today.

There then begins the process of recovery.

"Obviously, we are going to have to be a little bit careful in the first few weeks," Moxham said. "We don't want to rush him back. We want to have him fit before he gets back on the court again.

"It's not only about being physically free, it's about being mentally free as well. Obviously, he is going to be keen now because he was really looking forward to playing this tournament -Dave's the sort of guy who just loves being on the court, playing as much as he can.

"I think in three, a maximum of four, weeks you are going to see the best of Dave Palmer again."