The 25th season of the Premier Squash League (PSL) gets underway next Tuesday (9 October) - with recently-crowned British Open champion Gregory Gaultier making his debut for Probuild Bristol as the west country side bids to go one better than the runners-up finish achieved in last season's debut in the England Squash league now sponsored by Towergate tlc.

In a dramatic finale to the 'Wimbledon of Squash' last month in Manchester, Gaultier became the first ever Frenchman to win the prestigious British Open trophy.  The 24-year-old, who has leapt to three in this month's world rankings, will make his first PSL appearance for two years as he leads Probuild Bristol in their opening Group B tie next week against Croydon's PCL Whitehall Security Surrey H&RC.

"Even before winning the British Open, Greg had already established himself as one of the leading players on the Tour - and we are delighted that we have signed him to lead our bid to go all the way this season," said team manager Hadrian Stiff.

"He's a player with a high level of confidence who, on his day, can beat anyone - and that's a huge factor."

"In fact, it was our previous number one Adrian Grant who suggested we approach Greg - and, on the basis that their Tour commitments won't always make them available together, they can now share the responsibilities of leading the squad," added Stiff.

Gaultier will take on PSL newcomer Wael El Hindi in Tuesday's opening clash in Croydon.  The world No12 from Egyptian leads the new Surrey H&RC squad, which also includes England internationals Peter Barker and Vicky Botwright who are making their debuts for the Croydon club.

Making their first appearance in the new PSL season are Energie Fitness Redditch, managed by British Open Over-55 champion Bett Dryhurst.  The Worcestershire club will be led by England No6 Jonathan Kemp in their opening away fixture against Benz-Bavarian Duffield.

Duffield, the 2005/06 season champions, remained unbeaten throughout last season and went to successfully defend their title.  Led for the fifth successive season by Yorkshire's world No10 Nick Matthew - who this week won the US Open title in an all-English final - the Derbyshire club is bidding to become the first club in the history of the elite league to claim a hat trick of successive PSL titles.

1st round - Tuesday 9 October:

Group A:
Nottingham v Pontefract
   Ong Beng Hee v James Willstrop
   Simon Parke v Lee Beachill
   John Rooney v Saurav Ghosal
   Mark Fuller v Neil Cordell
   Sarah Kippax v Kirsty McPhee
Benz-Bavarian Duffield v Energie Fitness Redditch
   Nick Matthew v Jonathan Kemp
   Andrew Whipp v Jaymie Haycocks
   Alex Stait v Chris Truswell
   Laurence Delasaux v Adam Stevenson
   Tania Bailey v Jaclyn Hawkes
University Sport Birmingham v Esporta Oxford
   Joey Barrington v Scott Handley
   Mohamed El Shorbagy v Chris Ryder
   Jonathan Harford v Dylan Bennett
   Joel Hinds v Kristen Johnson
   Laura Lengthorn-Massaro v Deon Saffery
 
Group B:
UniSport Guildford v PNH Properties Chichester
   Stacey Ross v Mohd Azlan Iskandar
   Stephen Meads v Alex Gough
   Jesse Engelbrecht v Tim Vail
   Alex Ingham v Peter Genever
   Alison Waters v Dominique Lloyd-Walter
PCL Whitehall Security Surrey H&RC v Probuild Bristol
   Wael El Hindi v Gregory Gaultier
   Peter Barker v Adrian Grant
   Bradley Ball v David Evans
   Davide Bianchetti v Hadrian Stiff
   Vicky Botwright v Kasey Brown

For all the latest news, visit the official website www.premiersquashleague.com