and two when the Bermuda Badminton Association's International Championships begin tonight and run through to Saturday at BAA gym.

The pair, who are the youngest internationals to play in the tournament, bring vast experience with them despite their young ages. Stephen Isaac, 19, has already won his first full international cap for England, while Manfred Tripp, 21, is ranked number two in Sussex.

"I got my full England cap in October and now I want to get to number one in England and work from there,'' said Isaac.

"If you're not at the top you don't make a lot of money because not a lot of sponsors give out a lot of money. The prize money is inmaterial compared to what the top players get from sponsors.'' Isaac is ranked in the top 12 in the UK and is a national under 18 champion having won six junior titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. He has represented England at every level, under 14, under 15, under 16, under 17 and under 18 and was ranked third in Europe at under 18.

The teenager spent two years in Norway between 1991 and '93, studying for `A' levels and training with the Norwegian national squad before becoming the under 21 champion in their open tournament. Isaac represented England against China in 1993 and also won the badminton writers' Young Player of the Year award last year.

Isaac will be the top seed in this week's tournament with Tripp ranked second.

And provided there are no major upsets the two will meet in the final, which will be only the second meeting between the pair. They will also be playing together in the men's doubles.

"We'll have to get acclimitized, it's very warm here,'' said Tripp who was born in South Africa and lived there before for about eight years before moving to England for three years and then going back to South Africa for another three-and-a-half years.

He is now based in Wimbledon, England and has been playing badminton for six years. Tripp says he is planning to return to South Africa in September to play in their nationals is a bid to try to represent them in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

"But I wouldn't go back and live there for awhile,'' he admits. "It wouldn't benefit me as I'm looking to make a living in badminton.'' Isaac, who has visited such countries like Malaysia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Holland, Indonesia, Portugal, Bulgaria and Poland, visited South Africa himself last Summer for two-and-a-half weeks with an England team.

"It was a reasonable standard, nothing spectacular,'' he says of the standard there. "They've still got the same team from eight to 10 years ago.

"We were the first international team to tour there since apartheid ended and it was quite an experience.'' Isaac reached the main draw of the recent All-England Championship in mid-March before losing to a Dane in the first round, while Tripp failed to qualify for the actual event after also losing to a Dane.

MEN TO BEAT -- England based pair, Stephen Isaac (left) and Manfred Tripp are seeded one and two in the Bermuda International Championships which begins tonight at BAA gym. The pair will also team up in the men's doubles.