Category: "associations"

IOC put Squash on the shortlist for 2020!

May 31, 2013 • Tags: , , • Categories: all posts, associations

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board did put Squash on the shortlist as a potential sport to join the Olympic Programme for the 2020 Olympic Games. The IOC Executive Board, which comprises 15 IOC members including President Jacques Rogge, made its decision after receiving presentations from eight sports.

The Squash presentation team included seven-time women’s world champion and world number one Nicol David, and Ramy Ashour, men’s world champion and world number one. Three films which can be viewed at were shown in the Squash presentation.

Next step to showcase the sport are the Men’s World Team Championships (9th to 15th of June) in Mulhouse.

Men’s World Team Championships in Mulhouse!

May 24, 2013 • Tags: , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, teams, tournaments

For the first time in history, France will host the Men’s World Team Championships (9th to 15th of June). The French Federation will use their 3 ASB glass courts to be built into the Palais des Sports in Mulhouse. This will be the first time in the men's game, 3 glass courts will be used for an event.

With these championships the French Squash Federation would like to support the World Squash Federation’s bid to have squash included as a sport in the 2020 Olympic Games.

If you want to be part of it, come, get your tickets and join in Mulhouse …

PSA & ASB join forces in squash innovation!

December 1, 2012 • Tags: , , • Categories: all posts, associations, tournaments

The Professional Squash Association (PSA) has signed an agreement with leading court manufacturer ASB to develop new initiatives to enhance the presentation of the sport.

An early result of the new partnership is the new dark floor installed in the latest ASB all-glass show court on which the semi-finals and finals of this week’s PSA World Series Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open will be played.

The unique court, which features doors in the sidewalls to eliminate the central door on the back wall, has been erected at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on the waterfront at Tsim Sha Tsui.

It is this spectacular setting which will host the International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegates who are visiting Hong Kong as part of the ‘inspection’ process to help determine which of the shortlisted sports should win a place on the 2020 Olympic Games programme.

The new PSA/ASB court partnership will help progress court technology and increase glass court awareness to events around the world. Furthermore, the arrangement will make available special PSA rates for rental and court sales.

“We are delighted to announce this new agreement with ASB to become the official court partner of the PSA,” said COO Lee Beachill. “ASB are without doubt the most innovative court manufacturer on the market today and are constantly looking at new ways to enhance the squash viewing experience.

“We hope to work closely with them over the next period to further improve this product and showcase the spectacular attributes of men’s professional squash.

“ASB is the latest company to join an ever-growing list of partners for the PSA – confirming the continued growth of the association,” added the former world number one. “We are very pleased with the feedback from our current partners and we are sure that our relationship with ASB will be successful for both parties.”

Horst Babinsky, the founder of German company ASB, said: “My son Christof, who is now in charge of the active management of ASB, together with Peter Schmidl, who coordinates all international partner- and relationships, have worked for a long time on this new partnership with the PSA.

“Together with the PSA players and their management Alex Gough and Lee Beachill, we want to optimize the presentation of squash.

“The first result of the cooperation is the new black ASB SquashFloor, which was successfully tested earlier this month at the Women’s World Team Championship in Nimes where three ASB ShowGlassCourts were used together for the first time,” concluded Babinsky, squash innovator for more than 30 years.

Zdenek Klos, CEO of ASB international sales, is also delighted with the new PSA agreement: “Additionally I believe that the agreement will help us to get the idea of showcasing the sport also in normal clubs to the club owners as well.”

World Squash Day set up biggest sports match!

October 28, 2012 • Tags: , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, supporters, tournaments

The sport of Squash is claiming a world record for the biggest sports match in history. More than 40,000 players registered to take part in the World Squash Day Challenge, which demonstrated global support for the sport’s 2020 Olympic bid.

More than 800 clubs from over 70 nations joined in, with players representing Team Squash and Team 2020.

World Squash Day founder Alan Thatcher said: “Hundreds of pictures have been uploaded to websites and Facebook pages showing large numbers of happy, smiling people doing what they love best, enjoying the thrill of playing one of the world’s most physically-demanding sports. “The pictures also showed the lifelong friendships, great sportsmanship and sheer fun that this game delivers.”

Women’s world champion Nicol David set a great example. The Malaysian cycled round her home city of Amsterdam to visit every squash club, and also waved banners outside some of the city’s most iconic buildings.

Other former world champions, including Australians Vicki Cardwell and Michelle Martin, joined the action as more than 50 clubs participated Down Under.

Leading Egyptian stars Nour El Sherbini and Raneem El Weleily also played a special WSD challenge match in Alexandria.

World Squash Day was also celebrated in some exotic locations, with Reunion Island hosting a team from Mauritius. Frenchman Thierry Lincou, who hails from Reunion, beat fellow former world champion David Palmer in a match to mark World Squash Day.

One of the biggest events took place at the Tanglin Club in Singapore, where they joined forces with the British Club and Hollandse Club to stage 188 matches.

A 24-hour marathon in Slovenia attracted more than 300 players; 334 matches took place over 15 centres in the Czech Republic; and Gravelines in France featured 122 competitors. Results were also posted from Zimbabwe, Peking University in China, and from various clubs in the Caribbean.

Around 750 youngsters from the inner-city of Johannesburg, townships of Soweto and Alexandra – among numerous around the world who would benefit from Olympic inclusion beyond 2020 – had a fun-filled day as they joined the rest of the world in celebrating World Squash Day through their annual Egolisquash Festival.

A huge event in Hong Kong was followed by a flash mob dance in the heart of the city, which attracted national media attention.

Upwards of 150 clubs were involved in England, with big numbers also recorded in Canada, USA and throughout Asia and Europe.

There was a raft of messages of support, including one from double Olympian Dame Kelly Holmes, while WSF President N Ramachandran summed up his delight by saying:

“Our sport cares about promoting itself. It cares deeply about our Olympic aspirations and developing and innovating.

“World Squash Day is a superb illustration of this.”

World Squash Day – fans back 2020 Olympic Bid!

October 20, 2012 • Tags: , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, supporters

Squash’s bid for a place in the 2020 Olympics receives a massive boost on today when some 40,000 players are expected to take part in a massive worldwide competition on World Squash Day.

The biggest fixture in the history of the sport has a 2020 theme as World Squash Day is dedicated to supporting the World Squash Federation (WSF) bid for a place in the 2020 Olympic Games.

More than 750 squash clubs all over the world – representing 72 nations from Argentina to Zimbabwe – will be taking part in the World 2020 Challenge. Each club will field two teams of 20 (often more) representing Team Squash and Team 2020.

WSF Chief Executive Andrew Shelley said: “This impressive level of support proves conclusively that the worldwide squash family is right behind the Olympic bid.

Let’s go for it!

WHERE IT’S ALL HAPPENING:
• World Squash Day will be celebrated throughout Asia, with events in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Iran.

• African nations taking part include Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

• Arab nations include Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

• More than 50 events are taking place across Australia, plus many more in New Zealand, where The Datsuns’ drummer Phil Buscke, a keen squash player, is throwing down a challenge to members of the All Blacks rugby team to get on court. Four years ago, Buscke publicised the previous Olympic bid with a televised bungee jump off Auckland Harbour Bridge.

• Across north, south and central America, competing nations include Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and USA. World Squash Day activities will feature in the new men’s PSA World Tour event in San Francisco, where a 20-up College Challenge will take place on the glass court by the San Francisco waterfront between Stanford University and California University-Berkeley and University of Southern California.

• European nations include Armenia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and Wales.

• Exotic island squash outposts include the Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Norfolk Island, Trinidad and Tobago, plus St Vincent and The Grenadines.

For all the latest updates, and to record and view progress of all the matches and events, visit www.worldsquashday.com

20,020 Players Back World Squash Day!

September 29, 2012 • Tags: , , , , , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, supporters, tournaments

World Squash Day has attracted more than 20,020 players to back the sport’s 2020 Olympic bid. The players and their clubs have signed up to take part in the biggest squash match in history on 20 October to support the World Squash Federation’s Olympic ambitions.

“This is a phenomenal milestone to reach, with almost a month to go before World Squash Day actually happens, and we can confidently expect that figure to rise significantly as more clubs join in this fantastic project”, WSF Chief Executive Andrew Shelley said.

The list of clubs who signed up this week includes groups from Japan, Singapore, Finland, Liechtenstein, Brazil, Estonia, Russia, Malta, Belgium, Qatar, Uganda and the Cook Islands, plus St Vincent and The Grenadines, as well as all the bigger squash nations.

WSD founder Alan Thatcher added: “We quickly moved forward from 10,000 players to 15,000 and in a matter of days we could see we were getting close to 20,000. I wanted to witness that historic moment and stayed up half the night to see it happen!

“The 2020 Bid is supported by so many star players, including women’s world champion Nicol David from Malaysia, Egypt’s Ramy Ashour (ri) and England’s great rivals James Willstrop (mi) and Nick Matthew (le), ranked one and two in the world.

Clubs can register to take part by visiting the website: www.worldsquashday.com

Squash World Championship to introduce 3 Glass Show Courts!

July 29, 2012 • Tags: , , , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, teams, tournaments

In a unique development for squash, action in the 2012 Women’s World Team Championship in France in November will take place on 3 new state-of-the-art all-glass show courts, which are manufactured by ASB.

The exciting initiative by the Fédération Française de Squash will ensure that, for the 1st time in the event’s 33-year history, all the teams participating in the event should experience the opportunity of playing on all-glass courts.

In previous world team championships, most of the action has taken place on club courts, with only a few teams playing on a single four-glass-walled court leading up to its use for the event’s final rounds.

The 2012 Women’s World Team Championship will be staged in France for the 1st time – at the La Parnasse Arena and the 8-court Squash Des Costieres Club, in Nimes, from 12-17 November.

On the completion of the championship, the all-glass courts will be dismantled and re-erected in the country’s 3 national training centres – one in Creteil in Paris, one in Aix-en-Provence and the 3rd in Le Mans.

“Our investment in three ASB all-glass show courts is a major initiative for the Federation – not just to use in 2 world championships in France, which we are very proud to host, but also for the long-term to use in our three national training centres,” said FFS President Jacques Fontaine. “Both the Women’s World Teams in Nimes, then next year the Men’s World Team Championship in Mulhouse, will provide major promotional opportunities for squash in our country and worldwide.

But the fact that the courts can be used in different locations is one of the key attributes of moveable, all-glass show courts like these,” Fontaine added. “Thus the initial investment in two world championships will provide a legacy which will give a major boost to the development of the sport in the future.”

Malawi WSF Ambassador visit inspires squash addition to Olympic centre!

June 15, 2012 • Tags: , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, players

The WSF Ambassador Programme visit to Malawi has inspired a squash facility to be included in a new OlympAfrica Sports Centre in the capital Lilongwe.

The WSF Ambassador Programme to Malawi, led by Malaysia's record 6-time women's world champion Nicol David (le) and Egypt's 2-times world junior champion Mohamed El Shorbagy (ri), is a World Squash Federation initiative designed to highlight the appeal of squash in countries where the sport is in its infancy.

"It is a great honour for us to host your visit. There are many countries in Africa, but the fact that you have chosen to come to Malawi is very special to us", Hon. Enoch K Chakufwa Chihana (mid), the Minister of Youth Development & Sports said.