I think providing one wildcard for a tournament is fair enough. It's not as if there are hundreds of good squash tournaments on the calendar at the moment, people are struggling to put tournaments on. A wildcard is quite a good promotional tool at times. It is always beter when there is some kind of local interest in the tournament, as you can get better media coverage that way.
This case is of course quite extreme, as every single player in the tournament is so much better than Kyme, but the idea is good. Its not Kyme's fault anyway, in his position I would take the spot as well. Just look at the Hungarian Open last year. This Hungarian fellow (who is very very mediocre to say the least) got the wildcard, played against Jonathon Power, lost in 13minutes and got loads of points for it and is now like 113 in the world. Rumor has it that the promoter sold the wildcard to the highest bidder (2,500$), but that is another story. Of course things like that are frustrating for other PSA players, but if it helps to get tournaments on the calendar, then it is justified I think. And just because you have the occasional wild card player who is crap, you can't not reward him with points for playing. Normally wild cards have a half way fitting standard to the event.

I tend to agree with the previous postings. But for the sake of arguement, is the PSA in a position to battle with a promoter who is willing to put up big money to host a tournament? I do not know for sure if they had other promoters and sponsors willing to put the tournament on, but I would bet that they did not. If the promoter said we get a wildcard in the main draw or no tournament, could the PSA afford to refuse their conditions? It seems like such a small thing to be a deal breaker, but maybe it was.
Is watching a local get destroyed in the first round really that enjoyable, or help to promote local squash for that matter? Or is it just good for the recipient of the wildcard and maybe their national sport association? ie. extra funding for a highly ranked international squash player.

As an ex-PSA touring player, the wild-card issue never really bothered me. A wild card takes the spot away from 1 player only. The wild card is also a PSA member, so at least the spot goes to someone paying his dues. What really used to chap my behind, is the local spots in the qualifying that go to non-PSA players, and that affects usually a lot more players - players that struggle to get into an event because of a low ranking, and are prepared to spend the money to travel. There was nothing worse than being stuck on a wiating list as a professional player because Harry Hacker who works behind the bar at his local club wants a hit. Leave the professional events to the professionals.

for all of you complaining, have you ever been to a tournament to see whats going on? Full gallery for locals an wild card (local) and just a few people watching the first match of No 1 seed ! Wild card to a local is good for the promoter who pays lots of money sometimes ,so it´s good for squash.

Whoopee, a load of locals on free passes to see their man get a spanking. You're not really selling the concept.

Squash needs to promote exciting and competitive matches if it is ever to get anywhere near the mainstream. No sport ever did itself any favours selling itself short like this.

I agree. Did football become the global spectacle it is by having Brazil play a local pub team in the 1st round of the World Cup?? I don't think so!! Squash needs big matches all the time to become a global sport. It has great rivalries ie Power vs Nicol that should be utilised more often to gain publicity and glamour. Squash is a fantastic sport that needs to look at how other sports gain massive publicity. I am the youngest person in my squash team by a good 15 years (I am 24) and youngsters need to be encouraged to get into the sport. If Squash wants to compete with the big boys, it needs to stop handing out free passes to locals as all that does is cheapen the sport that I love!!!!!

I am afraid you dont know what is going on in sports world. In every sport,every event there is wild card.I just notice some sports.In tennis there is in every tournament at least two spots and also in Grand slam tournaments like Wimbledon ,Roland Garros etc.In football there is a place for the home side in every European or World cup without any qualifiing.Examples are Japan and Korea at the previous World cup and Portugal in Euro 2004.Also in the Olympics the host country has a lot of free spots for their top athletes.
The Gallery doesnt have to pay a ticket.The host club and the sponsor wins by advertising the local panticipation together with the best players.Have you ever read a local newspaper at Swiss oopen,Belgian or any other open ?

Of course I understand the sports world!! In the World Cup of 2002, Japan and Korea were given wildcards as they hosted the tournament, but Korea justified that honour by reaching the semi finals. When Portugal hosted Euro 2004, again they justified their "free" entry by reaching the finals. When Goran Ivensivic got his wildcard to Wimbledon, HE REACHED THE FINAL!!!! What I am saying is that to give a "free entry" to someone that knows that they are going to get knocked out in the 1st round is ridiculous!!! If you are going to hand out "free passes" don't cheapen the event by handing them to someone that won't book their hotel room for more than one night!!

I dont think that Korea is a football giant ,neither Portugal ! What about the Olympics ? Did the wild cards won a medal ?I could see in Athens that in every Greek panticipation it was sold out and when Isibayeva in pole vault or Thorpe was competing there were some tickets left the previous days.
The wild card doesnt have to prove anything.Kyme is very succesful in his country and if it wasnt him there will be no tournament in Bermuda,for the simple reason that he made the Bermudian companies and sponshors to have a look at squash.
You cannot understand that its important for the promoter to advertise his company to the local gallery.He is not intrested for abroad advertisment.

is this nick writing this? surely no one else can see the sense in having a 15 min match in the first round of the biggest tournament.

If I was a Nick Kyme Fan, I surely would not want to see him get destroyed in 15m in front of his friends and family. The promoter would look bad (in my opinion) by setting him up for a big failure. Let him go out on his own and earn his way back to this event by playing in the smaller tournaments like everyone else. I agree that wildcards should be for qualifying only, if a player can get through that then he has earned a place in the main draw.

I agree with PSA player. What part of "hundreds will support the local" and "nobody watches the 1'st seed in 1'st round" don't you people understand? I wonder if the people on this board have ever even seen professional squash matches???!

Some of yall are just ssssooooo negative!!! How is the guy supposed to improve his squash if everyone is making him feel like the worst player on earth?!? He doesn't have to lose, anything is possible. He could feed off the local support and play the best squash of his life to seriously challenge Thierry and provide good entertainment as well. Then they would get more sponsors and then Bermuda would continue to be a fix on the world tour. Have you even realised that Bermuda is the only Caribbean country to host a PSA event??? Due to Bermuda's success, they have even approached other countries in the Caribbean to host PSA events, which would further expand and enhance the PSA World Tour. The powerful squash countries like Australia and Egypt can't even host a tournament as big as what a tiny nation like Bermuda is having. Give the guy a chance, all sports have cinderella stories once in a while.

Kyme could play out of his tree, Lincou would hand him his behind on a plate anyway. There is no way Kyme will win unless Lincou fails to turn up.

Anyway, the argument here isn't about Kyme in particular, it's about the wildcard. Kyme just happens to be in the limelight since he has received the wildcard in the biggest event on the calendar.

I think the bottom line is, if it helps to get sponsors and make a tournament of this magnitude possible, then we should be applauding the PSA and Bermuda for hosting the event and Kyme, as a Bermudian, should get the wildcard being their number 1 player. Anyone complaining is simply envious. If it doesn't make the jack of difference whether sponsors will put up the money for the tournament then the wildcard rule should be yanked.

I don't know what you guys are talking about Kim use to play number 3 for Trinity college and they were the world champions, I think he will do great.