Germany's former world No6 Sabine Schoene is set to star in this week's World Masters Squash Championships in Cologne where she is the only local player seeded to win one of the 17 titles on offer in the World Squash Federation event being staged in Germany for the first time in its 34-year history.

The 36-year-old from Munich, making her first appearance on the international stage for more than six years, is top seed in the Women's Over-35 championship. Schoene, the German national champion an incredible 17 times, enjoyed a distinguished career on the international circuit, reaching the World Open semi-finals in 1993 and winning the silver medal in the World Games in 1997.

England are expected to win six titles in the championships, with Australia and South Africa each predicted to gain four. England's Averil Murphy, defending champion and top seed in the Women's Over-60 event, is one of six players hoping to win a record-equalling fourth World Masters trophy.

South Africans Craig van der Wath and Trevor Wilkinson are both aiming for a fourth - van der Wath hoping to win back his Men's Over-40 title and Wilkinson bidding to defend his Men's Over-45 crown.

Australians Geoffrey Davenport and Brian Cook are both scheduled to retain the trophies they won two years ago in New Zealand - Davenport the Men's Over-50 and Cook the Men's Over-60.

Kiwi Barry Gardiner is hoping to repeat 2008 home soil success in the Men's Over-70 championship.

After winning her last World Masters title in 2001, Australia's distinguished former World Open champion Vicki Cardwell is expected to pick up the Women's Over-55 title in Cologne.

Just nine months after celebrating his 35th birthday, Frenchman Renan Lavigne - a former world No17 - is making his Masters debut as top seed in the Men's Over-35 event.

2010 World Masters seeds:
MEN'S O35:
1 Renan Lavigne (FRA), 2 Glenn Hitch (HKG), 3 Jago Nardelli (ENG), 4 Mirko Pareccini (ITA), 5/8 Matthew Crowley (WAL), Tommi Ryyppö (FIN), Ciaran Brian McCoy (IRL) and Dovi Haruzi (ISR)
MEN'S O40:
1 Craig van der Wath (RSA); 2 Michael Tootill (RSA); 3 Lucas Buit (NED); 4 Derek Ryan (IRL); 5/8 Rick Weatherall (ENG), Kevin White (ENG), Stephen McLoughlin (GBR) and David Sly (CAN)
MEN'S O45:
1 Trevor Wilkinson (RSA); 2 Gary Duberly (NZL); 3 Eamonn Price (ENG); 4 Peter Gunter (ENG); 5/8 Mark Woodliffe (ENG), Greg Pearman (ENG), Matti Saarela (FIN) and Jonathan Clark (ENG)
MEN'S O50
1 Geoffrey Davenport (AUS); Richard Millman (ENG); Alan Thomson (SCO); Björn Almström (SWE); 5/8 Jim Mobbs (AUS), Chris Harland (ENG), Ian Bradburn (ENG) and Peter George Adriaans (AUS)
MEN'S O55:
1 Mark Cowley (ENG); 2 Michael Bester (RSA); 3 Peter Alexander (ENG); 4 Bruce Turner (AUS); 5/8 Michael John Brown (AUS), Geoff Redfern (ENG), Nathan Marks (BEL) and Johnny Orsmond RSA)
MEN'S O60:
1 Brian Cook (AUS), 2 Hugh Colburn (AUS), 3 Keith Jones (ENG), 4 Chris Grainger (RSA); 5/8 John Oliver Smith (GBR), Aubrey Waddy (ENG), Peter Graham (ENG) and Frederik Christoffel Bester (RSA)
MEN'S O65
1 Adrian Wright (ENG); 2 Chris Ansell (ENG); 3 Ken Johnson (GBR); 4 Antony Michael Martin (RSA); 5/8 Len Froggitt (ENG), Barrie McDevitt AUS), David Alec Barnes (ENG) and Gerald A Poulton (CAN)
MEN'S O70
1 Barry Gardiner (NZL); 2 Thomas Brian Heath (RSA); 3 Brian Phillips (WAL); 4 John Woodliffe (GBR); 5/8 Lance Kinder (GBR), John Preston (ENG), Michael Gough (USA) and Vincent Taylor (CAN)
MEN'S O75
1 Malcolm Gilham (ENG); 2 Nino Sydney (AUS); 3 Peter Fahrenheim (RSA); 4 Trevor James Coulter (NZL)
WOMEN'S O35:
1 Sabine Schoene (GER); 2 Yoriko Michishita (JPN); 3 Peta Murphy (AUS); 4 Sam Herbert (RSA); 5/8
Karen Meakins (BAR), Melanie Kreisel (GER), Marie Johnson Vlcek (USA) and Hanna Maaria Rusila (FIN)
WOMEN'S O40:
1 Sarah Nelson (AUS); 2 Lisa Cowlard (NZL); 3 Judith Casbolt (NZL); 4 Simone Korell (GER); 5/8 Isabelle Tweedle (ENG), Vicki Beker (NZL), Delana de Jongh (RSA) and Sonja Schrijvers (BEL)
WOMEN'S 045:
1 Mandy Akin (ENG); 2 Kathryn Austin (NZL); 3 Fran Wallis (GBR); 4 Sil Schrijvers (BEL); 5/8 Claire Baker (ENG), Bea de Dreu-Spitse NED), Carin Clonda (EST) and Sharon le Roux (RSA)
WOMEN'S O50:
1 Julie Field (ENG); 2 Lisa O'Grady (RSA); 3 Karen Hume (ENG); 4 Karen Walton (NZL); 5/8 Jan Miller (AUS), Eunice Bond (SCO), Lynne Davies (WAL) and Jane Berkley Segall (USA)
WOMEN'S O55:
1 Vicki Cardwell (AUS); 3 Pauline Douglas (SCO); 3 Carolyn Roylance (GBR); 4 Jan Ellis (ENG); 5/8 Freda Walker (NZL), Maureen Carroll (SCO), Denise Kyme (BER) and Melanie Knibbs (RSA)
WOMEN'S O60:
1 Averil Murphy (ENG); 2 Marilyn Kennedy (AUS); 3 Bett Dryhurst (GBR); 4 Margaret Hunt-Kemp (RSA); 5/8 Kathy Paterson (AUS), Christine Avis McIntyre (AUS), Claire Bryars (FRA) and Yvonne Cook (AUS)
WOMEN'S O65:
1 Glenda Erasmus (RSA); 2 Sheena Worwood (RSA); 3 Maeve Spotswood (IRL); 4 Eliza Jane MacDonald (NZL); 5/8 Joan Witton (ENG), Ingrid Keuntje (GER), Norma Fulling (GBR) and Jill Mitchell (AUS)
WOMEN'S O70:
1 Averil Heath (RSA); 2 Dawn Kaiser (RSA); 3 Barbara Sanderson (IRL); 4 Julie Therese Wilson (AUS)