World Squash Athlete Ambassadors Rally In New York

Grand Central Terminal in New York provided the perfect platform for the first meeting of Squash’s Olympic Athlete Ambassadors, a select group of leading players nominated by the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and Women’s International Squash Players’ Association (WISPA) as the sport's two international player bodies rallied to the call from the World Squash Federation to spearhead the sport’s bid to join the Olympic Games programme in 2016.

Both organisations have pledged their full and unwavering support to the WSF-led campaign.

“We are working very closely with both PSA and WISPA – both of whose boards and membership are totally supportive of the Olympic campaign,” said the WSF’s Olympic Bid Manager Scott Garrett.

“The purpose of appointing Athlete Ambassadors is to have real, live, participating athletes to represent the sport to the IOC and any interested parties seeking information about the sport regarding the sport's efforts to get into the Olympics," added Garrett.

Natalie Grainger, ranked four in the world and President of WISPA, echoed the WSF's commitment: "We have come together because we fully represent what Squash is all about: we are not only eloquent, and span a broad mix of cultures, but we are passionate about Squash becoming an Olympic sport,” said the new Athlete Ambassador.

"For us, and all elite players, the Olympic Games would be the absolute highlight of the Squash calendar," added Grainger.

The initial line-up of Squash’s Olympic Athlete Ambassadors is:

· Natalie Grainger (USA), the WISPA President and former world number one who is the reigning Pan American Games champion

· Lee Beachill (England), the PSA President; a former world number one and two times Commonwealth Games gold medallist and three-time British National champion

· Peter Nicol (England), a board member of the PSA and former world champion who has won four Commonwealth Games gold medals and has held the world number one ranking for 60 months

· Thierry Lincou (France), a former world champion and world number one, currently ranked seven in the world, who has been French National champion a record ten times

· Ramy Ashour (Egypt), the 21-year-old world number three and reigning world champion who became the first player to win two successive world junior men’s titles

· Samantha Teran (Mexico), a three-time winner of the Pan American championship and the first Mexican woman to earn a world top 20 ranking

New York is currently hosting one of the sport’s most high-profile events: The JP Morgan Tournament of Champions is in its ninth year at Grand Central Terminal. Staged on an all-glass court in the Vanderbilt Hall, the elite championship has become the world’s largest spectator squash event, providing an unparalleled opportunity for tens of thousands of travelling New Yorkers to watch the action as they pass through the world-famous station.

Picture caption: Pictured by the all-glass court at Grand Central Terminal in New York are new WSF Olympic Athlete Ambassadors (L to R) Peter Nicol, Thierry Lincou, Natalie Grainger, Ramy Ashour, Samantha Teran and Lee Beachill - flanked by PSA Chairman Ziad Al-Turki (Saudi Arabia) (extreme left) and PSA Chief Operating Officer Alex Gough (Wales) (extreme right)

Malaysian Squash News Bundle

CIMB reward SRAM success with two-year sponsorship
The huge success of Malaysian squash players — both seniors and juniors — at the international level has prompted CIMB to extend their contract for another two years.

CIMB will continue to contribute RM2mil a year to the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) for their tournaments, administrative expenses and development programmes.

Thank you: CIMB’s Effendy Shahul Hamid (second right) handing over the sponsorship to SRAM deputy president Datuk Syed Mustaffa Syed Ali (second left) as participants of the junior circuit celebrate.

CIMB Group head of group corporate communications Effendy Shahul Hamid said they were pleased with the development and success of the CIMB-sponsored national junior circuits.

“We are also delighted with the Malaysian players for their exceptional performance in the senior and junior tournaments.

“We hope that through the national junior circuits, young players will be able to hone their skills and lift thier performance on court.

“We look forward to extending the contract with SRAM, which expires in June, for another two years,” Effendy said during a ceremony to announce CIMB’s continuation as title sponsors for this year’s national junior circuits.

SRAM deputy president Datuk Syed Mustaffa Syed Ali attributed the squash players’ success to the availability of good coaches, facilities and high-level competitions.

“We would like to thank CIMB for extending their contract for another two years as we need RM2mil a year to carry out our activities,” said Syed Mutaffa.

“We need RM1.3mil to organise the Kuala Lumpur Open and Malaysian Open, RM500,000 a year for junior development programmes and RM200,00 for administrative expenses.”

Malaysian squash has enjoyed tremendous success of late, thanks largely to the exploits of players like Nicol David, Ong Beng Hee, Mohd Azlan Iskandar and Low Wee Wern.

World No. 1 Nicol created history when she won all the 10 Women’s International Squash Players Association (Wispa) tournaments last year. It was the best ever achievement for the Penangite since turning pro in 2000.

National No. 1 men’s player Beng Hee won the Kuala Lumpur Open and Malaysian Open last year.

Malaysia also made a clean sweep of all the four titles in the Asian Championships in Kuwait last February, with Azlan and Nicol bagging the men’s and women’s individual titles apart from the two team crowns.

Wee Wern also shone last year, retaining her Asian junior girls’ title in Busan in July.

Meanwhile, 384 juniors will compete in both the boys’ and girls’ Under-9, Under-11 and Under-13 age-group in the five-legs of the CIMB junior circuit this year.

Each of the junior received a RM10 ang pow from CIMB yesterday.

The first-leg started at the NSC Courts in Jalan Duta yesterday and second-leg will be held in Pahang from April 3-5.

The other legs are in Kedah (from May 1-3), Terengganu (June 19-21) and the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil (July 16-19).


SRAM turn to states for talent
As the well of talent at the national level runs dry, the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) is turning to the states for help.

After its own effort to unearth talent through the National Junior Circuit bore little fruit, SRAM is increasingly reliant on its state branches for junior players to represent the country at international tournaments.

At the recent Asian Junior Championships in Chennai for example, four of the eight team members were products of the Selangor SRA junior development programme while two others honed their skills under Penang state coach Allan Soyza.

Such is the perception that talent is going to waste at national level that some states are reluctant to release their players to train under SRAM coaches at Bukit Jalil.

But it is not all doom and gloom for squash at the grassroots if the turnout at the January trials at Selangor SRA-Petaling Jaya City Council development programme at the Astaka courts is any indication.

While pleased with the response, Selangor SRA honorary secretary Mary Ong said the huge turnout, however, forced them to turn away some enthusiastic youngsters as the programme could only cope with a limited number of players.

"We took in 25 promising players who will undergo an orientation programme to test their skill and aptitude. We are still receiving responses but we had to stop the intake due to a shortage of coaches and courts," Mary said.

"This programme has been running successfully for the last 19 years with most of the players from the national side coming from us. One way or another, most of our players have represented the country and we have a new crop coming up."

Over the years, the Selangor programme uncovered talent such as Ong Beng Hee, Michael Soo and Tricia Chuah but more recently Ivan Yuen, Ng Jo Wen, Zul Azri Abd Aziz and Tan Yan Xin helped Malaysia to a clean sweep of titles in Chennai.

Selangor also have Darren Subramaniam, who was seeded first in the recent British Junior Open boys' Under-15, and Yong Sue Ann, a semi-finalist at the 2008 British Junior girls' Under-13, training at Astaka.

From Penang, besides women's World No 1 Nicol David, emerged the Low sisters, Wee Wern and Wee Nee, with the former winning the British Junior Under-19 and Asian Junior titles this year.


Bug forces Beng Hee out
Illness has forced Ong Beng Hee to withdraw from tomorrow's Swedish Open PSA Tour tournament in Linkoping which could give him less time than he wanted to defend his Kuala Lumpur Open title next month.

Beng Hee has yet to fully recover from a stomach bug which caused him to bow out tamely in the second round to Australian David Palmer at the Tournament of Champions in New York last week.

The defeat meant he dropped one rung to 11th in the latest world rankings but the National No 1 thought it was best to skip the five-star Swedish Open, where he was seeded third and could have expected to meet World No 1 Karim Darwish in the semi-finals.

"I've pulled out of the Swedish Open as I'm not quite fit to play. I fell sick in New York and the virus left me sapped of energy," said Beng Hee, who turned 29 yesterday, in a mobile sms.

While health concerns came first for the Malaysian, he also hopes to recover his strength in time for his home tournament on March 4-7.

"I will be returning to Kuala Lumpur soon. I'm still recovering but I hope to return to training as soon as possible and get ready for the KL Open," added Beng Hee.

Beng Hee may have slipped in the rankings but Azlan Iskandar's run to the quarter-finals in New York saw him move up one spot to 12th, only 22 points adrift of his compatriot, while national No 3 Nafiizwan Adnan improved one rung to 57th.

Malaysia now have five men in the top-100 after Nafzahizam Adnan reached a career high 97th, up from 103rd, behind 82nd-ranked Asyraf Azan, who gained five places.

On the women's side, Nicol David maintained her status as World No 1 for the 31st consecutive month and 34 in total, maintaining a near 2,000-point lead over Natalie Grainger of the Netherlands.

Sharon Wee stemmed a slide in the rankings by moving up two spots to 23rd while Delia Arnold continued her climb by improving two places to 26th.

British Junior Open Under-19 and Asian Junior champion Low Wee Wern broke into the top-40 for the first time when she moved up five rungs to 37th.

Squash Helps Students Gain Ivy League Admission

BOSTON -- It's a game to some, but for others it's a ticket into any Ivy League school.

NewsCenter 5's Bianca de la Garza reported that for some, squash is serious business.

At Cross Courts in Natick squash players are using their skills to get themselves into prestigious schools. Every Ivy League school has a squash team.

"Squash is definitely giving kids these days an upper hand. They may be great students but if they don't have anything else that differentiates them from someone else, they may not stick out," said Warren Cross of Cross Courts.

Natick High School senior Corey Schafer had excellent grades, but she said squash is the reason she got admitted to her top choice college.

"I'm going to Dartmouth," she said.Squash enthusiasts said younger kids are picking up the sport so they can get into a private high school.

"We are finding that a lot of schools that offer squash (as part of) their middle school programs become oversubscribed because there are so many girls and boys interested in the sport," Cross said.

Cross is seeing kids as young as 7 coming in to play, and U.S. Squash saw a 20 percent increase in members under 18 in the past two years.

Wee Wern misses out on World Junior Champs 09

CHENNAI: Asian Junior Champion Low Wee Wern of Malaysia has accused Squash Rackets Federation of India of favouring Dipika Pallikal in the scheduling of the World Junior Championship to be held from July 31 to August 5.

Wern, who will turn 19 on July 25 and would become ineligible to compete in the world championship was speaking her mind over India's scheduling the championship which is open for only those aged below 19 and that she would not qualify to play in it.

"Now it is all over for me. But it will not stop me from concentrating on my WISPA tournaments to improve my rankings," Wern, ranked 42 in the world said adding "I will leave for Amsterdam after the Kuala Lumpur Open in March to continue training with World No. 1 and compatriot, Nicol David under coach Liz Irving."

World Open Venue Announced

Amsterdam Frans Otten Stadion To Host 2009 Women’s World Open

The Forexx Women’s World Open Squash 2009, the most prestigious event on the Women’s International Squash Players' Association (WISPA) World Tour, will be staged in the Frans Otten Stadion in Amsterdam. The championship will take place from 20-27 September 2009 at the biggest squash centre in the Netherlands.

The Frans Otten Stadion, which boasts 21 squash courts including one three-glass-walled court, has hosted numerous high-profile squash championships over the past couple of years. The 2004 Women’s World Team Championship took place at the renowned squash facility in the Dutch capital - and last year Frans Otten Stadion was the official venue for the European Team Championships and the Forexx Dutch Open. Every year the Dutch Nationals are also played at the multifunctional complex in Amsterdam.

An all-glass court will also be erected on the club’s tennis courts as part of the Forexx Women’s World Open Squash 2009. The championship court, featuring state-of-the-art technology which has considerably enhanced the ‘televisibility’ of professional squash, will be surrounded by a large seating area with a capacity for 1,000 spectators.

"The Frans Otten Stadion is the most logical and suitable venue in our country for such an important event," commented World Open promoter Tommy Berden. "It not only has 21 courts, but it also has valuable experience in hosting world class events.

"We are determined to create a ‘festival of squash’ in which the spectators can not only witness the best female squash players in the world, but can also participate in various squash activities themselves. And the Frans Otten Stadion gives us the opportunity to do just that," added Berden.

The Forexx Women’s World Open Squash 2009 will be the 25th staging of the world's most prestigious women's individual championship. It will also be the first time that the championship has been hosted by the Netherlands since 1989, when it was held in Warmond.

As well as past hosts of the event, the Netherlands also boasts a former world champion in Dutch star Vanessa Atkinson, who triumphed in 2004 over her new compatriot Natalie Grinham. Grinham, the world No2 and a World Open runner-up on three occasions (in 2004, 2006 and 2007), opted to represent the Netherlands at the beginning of last year.

More information about the championship can be found on the official tournament website www.womensworldopen.com