Manchester-born Finnlay Withington and Saran Nghiem have been confirmed as the wildcards for the prestigious Manchester Open squash tournament which will be held at the National Squash Centre between May 22-26.
Withington, 20, is currently ranked at No.79 in the PSA World Rankings and won the British Junior U19 Open in 2023. Withington, who now resides in Heywood, has won three professional squash titles, with his most recent win coming at the Edmonton Open in February of this year.
Withington also appeared at last year’s Manchester Open where he lost to former World No.3 Omar Mosaad in the first round.
Nghiem was a regular training partner of Withington at Cheetham Hill Squash Club, but left Manchester in 2022 to study at Harvard University. The 20-year-old has impressed on the college squash scene and was crowned CSA Individual National champion after coming back from two games down to beat teammate Marina Stefanoni last month.
Like Withington, World No.78 Nghiem has three professional titles to her name, most recently winning the Berkhamsted Open in July 2023. Nghiem lost to Egypt’s Yathreb Adel in the first round of last year’s tournament. Both players will be looking to cause an upset in front of friends and family in Manchester.
The Manchester Open is a prestigious Silver-level tournament on the PSA World Tour, with Ali Farag – the men’s World No.1 and World Champion – and Nour El Tayeb – the women’s World No.5 – capturing the 2023 trophies. The full line-up will be confirmed on Thursday April 18.
Live action from the tournament will be streamed via SQUASHTV while the semi-finals and finals will be shown by the TNT Sports.
Tickets for the event can be purchased here.
For more information on the Manchester Open, visit the tournament website or follow the PSA on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
