DEFENDING All-Jamaica badminton champion Charles Pyne is expected to arrive in the island tomorrow to participate in this year’s tournament scheduled for this weekend.

Pyne, who is playing the regional circuit to position himself for a 2012 Olympic place bid, has recently competed in the Pan Am Championships, the Santo Domingo Open and the Puerto Rico International which ended on November 7.

Pyne’s main opposition is expected to come from 2008 champion Gareth Henry, whom he defeated fairly comfortably last year.

The 19-year-old Henry was a quarter-finalist at October’s Pan American Championships.

For the women, Alya Lewis will be the favourite as perennial champion Nigella Saunders is still recuperating from an injury suffered during the Racketeers tournament in August.

Kristal Karjohn, as well as top junior Mikaylia Haldane, could provide some challenges for Lewis.

In the men’s doubles, an entry has been received from past greats Robert Richards and Dr William ‘Tommy’ Lee. These two have not played competitively for many years and it will be interesting to see how the current players stack up against them.

The closing date for entries in the All-Jamaica tournament had been extended to yesterday to give all a final chance to get their entries in.