FLAMBOYANT Singaporean Peter Hill has been given a wild card for the qualifying draw of the Mazda professional championships starting at the Hong Kong Cricket Club today. Hill, a former circuit player who gave up the tour three years ago to become resident coach at the Hong Kong Football Club, is still a force to be reckoned with, despite the lack of match practice. He reached the final in the same tournament last year before losing to Faheem Khan, the Hong Kong-based former Pakistani junior champion who is now ranked 21st with the Professional Squash Association. ''The draw is much tougher this year although Faheem has not entered,'' said 30-year-old Hill. ''I should make the main draw but I don't feel confident at all in reaching the finals because I haven't played that much squash recently. ''I thrive on games and can adapt very quickly, and even if I don't do too well this time I'm looking for better performances in the other two satellites coming up over the next two weeks.'' Hill has been drawn against Gregory Aspinal-Paul in the first round of the qualifiers and if he makes it past the New Zealander, he will face either Australia's Michael Fiteni or Frenchman Chris Montagnier for a berth in the main tournament. Top seed in the US$8,000 tournament is New Zealander Glen Wilson, ranked 40th in the world. Australia's Simon Baker is seeded two. The only Hong Kong player with a direct entry into the main event is Andrew Shum Siu-chung, whose 67th position on the PSA chart earned him the number four seeding behind England's Angus Kirkland.
