LAURA Massaro competes in the Kuala Lumpur Open next week and she can’t wait to return to action.

The world number three from Chorley hasn’t played since losing her national title in Manchester at the beginning of February.

Since then, she has been busy running her first tournament – the CourtCare Open at the David Lloyd Centre in Chorley – the first pro squash event to be held in East Lancashire.

But after her stint as a promoter, she is happy to be playing again in the first WSA World Series event of the year.

“I really enjoyed running my own competition and the feedback we have had has been very positive,” said Massaro who plays for East Lancs Squash Club. “We’ve already had a sit down with the sponsors from CourtCare who are looking to put more money in to the tournament for next year so that is fantastic news.

“But it is great to be back in action. I’ve had three really good weeks of training and now I am looking forward to playing again.”

Massaro faces American Latasha Khan in the first round in Malaysia on Wednesday and is in the same half of the draw as home favourite and world number one Nicol David – winner of the KL Open eight of the last 10 years. They are scheduled to meet in the semi finals.

“It will be tough because I missed the Cleveland Classic in January through illness and haven’t played since the Nationals,” added the former Albany High School pupil. “I want to get to my seeded position of the semi finals and take it from there.

“But I now it will be hard because it is a bigger competition this year and all the top players are all taking part.”