Injury forces Ricketts to retire in final ANTHONY Ricketts, the Pontefract-based Australian squash star, continued his excellent run of form by reaching the final of the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions, which is played in New York's Grand Central Station.

Unfortunately, the arm injury that affected him at the World Championships in Egypt flared up again and at 1-1 and 8-4 down in the third game, he was forced to retire in his showdown with Egyptian Amr Shabana.

To reach the prestigious final he beat world number four Thierry Lincou and Olli Tuominen, who put out his Pontefract clubmate Lee Beachill and David Palmer.

James Willstrop, the third of Pontefract's world ranked players, reached the quarter-final where he faced the sensational young Egyptian Ramy Ashour.

In front of a packed house, which gave the pair a standing ovation at the end, they put on a display of the finest world-class squash. Ashour won 3-1 but there was never more than a hair's breadth between them.

Next stop for Pontefract's pros is Canary Wharf, London, in a fortnight's time. Ricketts has already withdrawn but Beachill and Willstrop are set to compete.

In the West Yorkshire Junior Open Championships, held at Pontefract, four of the six winners came from the Stuart Road club: Grace Smith (U 17 girls), Tamindar Gata-Aura (U 13 boys), Jack Cooper (U 11 boys) and Ella Grayson (U 11 girls).

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