The Bermuda National Squash Championships take place next month with last year's winners, women's national coach Denise Sommers and former professional Patrick Foster, again among the favourites to win the tournament.

There will be four divisions again this year with a main men and women's draw, and then a women's veterans (over 40) and men's veterans (over 45) competition as well. Organisers are hoping that around 150 players will compete in the tournament that runs from February 14-21.

Foster will once again face a strong challenge from Bermuda's best ever player, Nick Kyme, who at one point was ranked 63rd in the world and was the youngest ever competitor at a world championships when he played in the Junior Worlds in Hong Kong at just 11-years-old.

The pair have faced off in the final in two of the last three years, with Foster coming out on top both times, but with ex-professional racquets World Champion James Stout also expected to be in attendance, the men's competition is likely to be a close contest.

"It's always been a hard game against Nick," said Foster. "And if we did see an entry from James that would certainly spice up the draw and change things.

"You can expect either me or Nick to have a tough match if we came up against him, I don't want him in the first round, that's for sure."

Sommers, a former female professional who represented Holland in numerous world class events, has largely been too strong for the Island's female competitors, but may face a challenge this year from new arrivals, Leah Bishop and Suzy Stones, who are unknown quantities in the local game.

Last year's women's veterans winner Liz Martin has been training hard for this year's event, but will face a strong challenge from former multiple champion Denise Kyme. While in the men's veterans category, anyone of 12 to 16 players could walk away with the trophy.

Digicel will sponsor the tournament for the second year running, with Blackberry also getting involved this time around.

"Last year it was one of our most successful sponsorships that we did," said Digicel corporate sales manager Shane McDonnell. "For us it's grass roots, we can get in there and support the squash club, and hopefully we can do this for many years.

"We have been in grass roots in many different sports across the 23 countries that we operate in. If you look in Jamaica and Usain Bolt, Digicel have sponsored Usain for numerous years, and hopefully we can see someone come out of the squash club here and be a champion in their own right."