Category: "associations"

Massaro and Elshorbagy taking the top!

January 2, 2016 • Tags: , , • Categories: all posts, associations, players

Elshorbagy regains World No.1 position!

Egypt’s Mohamed Elshorbagy has regained top spot in the January 2016 Men’s World Rankings just one month after losing out on the World No.1 Ranking to 2015 World Champion Gregory Gaultier.

A 3rd round exit at the World Championship in November 15 saw Elshorbagy’s 13-month top position coming to an end but after a victory at December’s Hong Kong Open the 24-year-old moved back to the summit of the rankings.

“For a long time last year I hadn’t been enjoying my squash but in Hong Kong I enjoyed playing again and realized how much I value the World No.1 position and I’m looking forward to defending it once again this year”, Elshorbagy said.

Surprise Hong Kong Open finalist Cameron Pilley, who defeated Gaultier and World No.3 Nick Matthew on his way to a maiden World Series Final, is the biggest mover inside the top 20, rising 11 places to occupy the World No.13 position – his highest ranking since 2013.

Laura Massaro takes World No.1 position!

Laura Massaro has become the 3rd Englishwoman ever to reach the World No.1 position after passing Egyptian Raneem El Welily to top the January 2016 Women’s World Rankings.

The 32-year-old Lancastrian claiming three PSA World Tour titles and competing in 4 of a possible 5 finals to surge to the top and become World No.1 for the 1st time in her career, following in the footsteps of compatriots Cassie Jackman (2004) and Lisa Opie (1988).

“I’ve been close for a very long time and to now be World No.1 is very, very special. It has taken a lot of years to get to the point where I can be at the top. The battle between Raneem, Nicol and myself is an interesting one but there are so many players in the top ten capable of winning big matches and winning titles that there’s more uncertainty at tournaments now than ever before,” said Massaro.

Elsewhere inside the World Top Ten American Amanda Sobhy moves up three places to a career high of World No.8 while New Zealand’s Joelle King continues her rise up through the rankings, also moving up three places to No.12.

Which other Olympic sport is able to cope with this cool stuff?

March 3, 2015 • Tags: , , • Categories: all posts, associations, supporters

Which other Olympic sport is able to cope with this cool stuff? All the squash fans in the world would propably come to the same conclusion: No way, no other sport show these interesting views, angles and now also LED lines and lights.

The Floor of the future!

The ASB GlassFloor is the most advanced flooring system in the world. Its unique aluminium substructure and the custom made surface of the glass deliver a floor ideal for a sports floor but also for its use in any modern building.

TheStar.com article
“A cutting-edge condo amenity soon to be introduced in the GTA has the luxury of nine lives — maybe more.

It will be the world’s first convertible and multi-purpose LED-lit sports court in a condominium tower, and it’s destined for 5959 Yonge St. — a two-tower, mixed-use development now in the planning stages for the east side of Yonge St. at Cummer Ave … ”

Read the full story…

PSA World Tour with May record!

March 15, 2014 • Tags: , , • Categories: all posts, associations, tournaments

The global reach of the PSA World Tour will mark a record of 20 tournaments taking place around the world during May. This includes 5 brand new events making their debut on the international calendar.

In the busiest month in PSA World Tour history, squash will be seen in countries such as Hong Kong, Guatemala, Australia, South Africa, France and the USA, all of which will be headlined by the Allam British Open, the flagship PSA World Series event taking place in the United Kingdom.

“It’s great to see new events being added to the PSA World Tour calendar and the addition of these latest competitions have now seen us attract 14 new tournaments so far in 2014,” said PSA CEO Alex Gough (pic).

“To have that level of increased interest, in all regions of the world, is a hugely positive sign for the sport and ensures that all our players are able to find high level competition to help them develop.

Squash and Olympia – a never ending Story?

February 25, 2014 • Tags: , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, tournaments

World Squash Federation President N Ramachandran (ri), who attended the Sochi Winter Olympic Games as the newly-elected President of the Indian Olympic Association, is encouraged by the IOC vision to introduce new sports to the Summer Games programme “sooner rather than later”.

Vladimir Putin (le) hosted a dinner for all the Heads of the National Olympic Committees, at which IOC President Dr. Thomas Bach (mi) introduced Ramachandran to the Russian President. “Naturally, I was able to use my opportunities in Sochi to continue my quest to secure a place for squash on the Olympic Programme, and it is clear that the IOC do have a vision that enables new sports to be admitted sooner rather than later,” said Ramachandran.

However the question is if squash should continue the quest, especially when participating sports producing headlines of doping cases in every Olympic event, like a few days ago again.

What’s the opinion in the squash community, should squash continue bidding for the Olympics?

Nick Matthew back on top of the World!

January 3, 2014 • Tags: , , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, players

2013 World Champion Nick Matthew overtook Egypt’s Ramy Ashour and Frenchman Greg Gaultier to top the 1st PSA Men’s World Squash Rankings of 2014.

The Englishman followed up November’s PSA World Championship triumph with a maiden Hong Kong Open title in December to cap an impressive end-of-year run and leap from 3rd to 1st on the rankings, ending Ashour’s 12-month grip on top spot.

“I’m playing the best squash of my career at the moment and that’s something I want to carry through into 2014 with the Commonwealth Games coming to the UK,” said Matthew.

Matthew’s ascendency from third to first sees Ashour, who ended 2013 plagued by injury, drop to third in the rankings while Gaultier maintains his No2 ranking.

Rank [Prev] Name HWR
1 [3] Nick Matthew (ENG) 1
2 [2] Greg Gaultier (FRA) 1
3 [1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 1
4 [4] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) 4
5 [5] James Willstrop (ENG) 1
6 [6] Karim Darwish (EGY) 1
7 [7] Borja Golan (ESP) 7
8 [8] Peter Barker (ENG) 5
9 [9] Amr Shabana (EGY) 1
10 [10] Daryl Selby 9
11 [12] Tarek Momen (EGY) 10
12 [11] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 8
13 [16] Simon Rosner (GER) 12
14 [13] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) 13
15 [15] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 15

Squash still has a great future!

September 9, 2013 • Tags: , , , , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, supporters

Despite being ‘devastated’ by the IOC decision to choose wrestling ahead of Squash as the ‘new’ sport to join the 2020 Olympic Games many squash fans, players and officials are convinced that squash has a ‘great future’.

“We are obviously devastated, not only for the whole sport and squash fans everywhere, but for the players, current and future that have worked so hard for this, especially the 2 World No1 players Nicol David and Ramy Ashour, who have put in so much time into the bid process. The presentation in Buenos Aires yesterday was something we can all be proud of – and shows the great future that squash has, with or without the Olympics”, said PSA CEO Alex Gough.

Among numerous reactions from players across the world, England’s former world No1 one Nick Matthew perhaps summed up the feelings: “Despite today’s disappointment the World of Squash can be massively proud of its efforts over these past 4 years.”

AJ Bell World Squash Championship!

August 29, 2013 • Tags: , , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, tournaments

Manchester based investment platform AJ Bell has added to its existing sports sponsorship activity by becoming title sponsor of the Men’s 2013 AJ Bell World Squash Championship.

With its Head Office overlooking the Old Trafford home of Premier League champions Manchester United, AJ Bell has established itself as another major success story for the North West in recent years.

Since the company was founded in 1995 it has quickly grown to become one of the UK’s largest providers of low-cost, online investment platforms and stockbroker services. Proud of its North West roots it also has national coverage with offices in London and Tunbridge Wells.

Having identified squash players as target group, AJ Bell then quickly moved to secure naming rights for the AJ Bell World Squash Championship too.
“With 1.5 million squash players distributed fairly evenly across the UK, our sponsorship of the event in Manchester is a chance to increase our brand awareness nationally,” said AJ Bell’s Marketing Director, Billy Mackay.

“With increasing interest in squash and a decision imminent on the sport’s bid to gain Olympic Games recognition, it is an exciting time to add our support to the excellent work being carried out by the Championship’s stakeholders, PSA, England Squash and Racketball, UK Sport and Manchester City Council.” added Mackay.

The 2013 AJ Bell World Squash Championship is the most coveted on the PSA World Series Tour and takes place from October 26 to November 3, with the quarter-finals onwards hosted on an iconic ASB ShowGlassCourt built at the internationally known, Manchester Central (formerly G-Mex).

Egypt’s undisputed world number one, Ramy Ashour, will defend the title he won in Doha last December. Ashour also won when the World Championships were last staged in Manchester five years ago.

However, England are World Team champions and, in Yorkshire duo Nick Matthew and James Willstrop, have two players capable of beating the planet’s best.

The tournament forms part of UK Sport’s Gold Events series and tickets are now at the official website.

Namibia host World Championships!

August 23, 2013 • Tags: , , , , • Categories: all posts, associations, tournaments

In what will be one of the southern African country’s first ever stagings of a world championship event, Namibia has won the rights to host the 2014 WSF World Junior Squash Championships.

The World Squash Federation event, which will include the Men’s & Women’s World Junior Individual Championships in addition to the Men’s World Junior Team Championship, will be held in the capital Windhoek from 10-21 August 2014.

“We are proud and excited that Namibia has been awarded the rights to host the 2014 edition of the World Junior Squash Championships, in Windhoek. This is the first event of this magnitude to be hosted in our country and we look forward to welcoming juniors from all over the world to our beautiful country,” said Tyc Kakehongo (ri), the Tournament Director for Desert Events Namibia on behalf of the Namibian Squash Association.

“The main objective for the Namibian Squash Association remains to promote squash as a choice of sport for the general public. By hosting a global show-piece of the sport, we hope this will give a major boost to our vision of mass participation from the full spectrum of our communities and leave behind a legacy that will see many Namibians – especially our youth – take up a fun and exciting sport.”

WSF President N Ramachandran (le) added: “For our World Junior Championships to be awarded to Namibia next year after Qatar in 2012 and Poland this year illustrates further the breadth of enthusiasm for squash – something of which we are very proud.”

Namibia becomes only the third African country, after Egypt and South Africa, to host a world squash championship.