competitors diving in the BASA pool for the annual Harbour Open Championships.

Top local swimmers from all of the Island's clubs will challenge representatives from Toronto-based club The Champs, ROW from the twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo in Ontario, the Carl-Burke team from Washington, DC, and two senior women from the University of California in Santa Barbara and Duke University.

Action begins with 56 heats tonight, starting at 6.00, and another 37 heats tomorrow evening.

Tonight's finalists will swim again on Saturday morning with the Thursday night finals being held the same evening.

And this Sunday many of the same competitors are expected to take part in the annual Trunk Island swim in Harrington Sound.

The 1,325 metre race -- which starts at Trunk Island and finishes at the Palmetto Bay Hotel -- is hosted by the Harbour Swim Club and organised by the Triangle Swim Club.

A race official yesterday confirmed that last year's men's open champion Stephen Fahy would defend his title, but ladies' winner Lisa Blackburn is not expected to compete.

The event is open to both local and visiting swimmers and is scheduled to begin at 2.00 p.m.

Swimmer registration and marking begins at 12 noon at the Palmetto Bay Hotel beach.

Boats will begin ferrying participants to the start line at 1.15. A prize- giving ceremony will be held immediately after the event.

Finally, the week-long competition will conclude with a "Bermuda versus The Rest'' relay event on Monday evening.

ISLAND SQUASH TEAM CRUSHED SQU Island squash team crushed Bermuda's squash team suffered convincing losses in the first round of the battle for the world team title this week.

Nick Kyme, Sam Stevens and Michael Stout are currently fighting for international honours at the Merrill Lynch Junior Men's Team Championships in Princeton, New Jersey.

Earlier in the event, Kyme reached the individual quarter-finals of the Classic Plate.

But in Monday's Pool G match-up with India, Kyme lost 6-9, 6-9, 0-9 in just 23 minutes.

And team-mates Stevens and Stout also endured disappointing performances against the Indian team.

Stevens fell 3-9, 6-9, 0-9, while Stout managed only one point in a 1-9, 0-9, 0-9 defeat.

The Bermudian team were scheduled to meet Zimbabwe last night.