Promising Island squash players, Nick Kyme and James Stout, have shot up the world rankings following their performances at the recently concluded national championships.

The event, held last month, was sanctioned by the Professional Squash Association for the first time and enabled the Bermuda pair to earn valuable points as they set out on the professional road.

"With Nick making the final he picked up enough points to move up the rankings to 171," said Ross Triffitt, Bermuda's director of squash. "Likewise, James made the semifinals and picked up enough points to move up to 192.

"The points they picked up are divided by eight; they are meant to play a minimum of eight matches to get a true result so by the time they have played another seven events those points will prove to be very valuable and move them up even higher."

Kyme is currently trying to gain entry into an invitational event in Rhode Island, while Stout is set to play in the Atlanta Open next month, a much larger event which will earn him a significant number of points.

"Just after that he will be heading off to Europe where he will be based in Belgium with (world champion and Bermuda resident) David Palmer's coach for two months," Triffitt said. "He will be using that as his training base during that period which leads up to the Junior Caribbean Championships and the senior Caribbean Championships towards the end of the summer.

"From there (Belgium) he will be able to play in the German Junior Open and the Dutch Junior open, thereby improving his European junior ranking."

Australian Palmer, meanwhile, has moved up to No.2 in the world despite being away from the circuit after undergoing an operation to remove his appendix.

"Your points remain for 12 months and it's a reflection of what happened during that time," explained Triffitt. "If you don't earn an equal amount of points in that period then when the old points drop off there can be some movement in the rankings, even though people aren't playing. The good news for him, while he is still recovering, is that due to the war the Qatar Open, the PSA Masters, has been cancelled, giving him the opportunity to get healthy. That means he will not miss one of the major events on the circuit.

"Hopefully, he is closing in on that No.1 ranking. However, (England's) Peter Nicol is still a little bit in the clear."

The Bank of Bermuda Foundation Junior Open continues today and tomorrow with Island players enjoying mixed fortunes against overseas opposition yesterday.

In the Boys Under-19 division James Stout, competing in a round robin event, beat international raider Patrick Stella 9-1, 9-0, 9-1. The New Yorker only arrived yesterday and Triffitt described his game against Stout as "a baptism of fire".

On the flip side, Carly Grabowski from New Jersey, in the girls combined Under-17 and 19 division, brushed aside Bermuda's Kristan Law 9-2, 9-2, 9-1.

The finals start at 1.20 p.m. on Sunday and entry to the Devonshire facility is free to the public.

For all yesterday's results see Scoreboard.