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01-Jul-09:
2009 Edition heads for Manchester
This year’s British Open Squash Championships will be staged at the
National Squash Centre in Manchester from the 8th to 14th September
and will “fly in the face of the worldwide recession.”
“The economic landscape of the past twelve months has changed
dramatically and has affected all sports at all levels,” said Paul
Walters, the event promoter.
“Despite the tough economic climate and obvious challenges, we have
worked very hard with our event partners to ensure that we deliver a
world class event worthy of the championships unrivalled heritage.
The circumstances are not dissimilar to those that we inherited in
2005 when we staged the British Open for the first time. We
organised a great event then and we’ll organise a great event again
this year.”
“Whilst a title sponsor is yet to be announced, the 2009 British
Open has received significant backing from Manchester City Council,
England Squash & Racketball and HEAD Sport, the championships
official racket and footwear partner. However, the British Open,
widely regarded as the ‘Wimbledon of Squash’, remains in the
marketplace seeking commercial partnerships at all levels.”
“The National Squash Centre in Manchester is regarded as one of the
finest purpose built squash facilities in the world and the event
layout will be consistent with the first British Open that we
promoted in 2005, as well as three successful stagings of the
British Grand Prix from 2004 to 2006, and the 2007 ATCO Super Series
Finals. The support and commitment that we have received to date
from our partners will ensure that the sport’s blue riband event
will again feature the world’s leading male and female professional
players” concluded Walters.
Nick Rider, Chief Executive of England Squash & Racketball, said:
“The British Open has a unique reputation, as it has an unrivalled
history in the sport of squash and continues to attract the best
players around. We held a great World Championships here last year –
this is another terrific opportunity to see the finest exponents do
battle for one of the sport’s most important prizes. That we can do
so with a strong partnership in difficult economic climate is all
the more pleasing.”
Councillor Mike Amesbury, Manchester City Council's Executive Member
for Culture and Leisure, said: "We are delighted to be bringing the
British Open back to Manchester in what we hope will be a landmark
year for the sport. Since the establishment of the National Squash
Centre we have developed a tradition of attracting the world's best
squash players to the city and they know they are always assured of
a warm welcome. Their presence also serves as an inspiration to our
up and coming young players, emerging from what we believe is the
best squash development programme in the country. We look forward to
welcoming the squash family to Manchester in September and to a
fantastic week of world class sport.”
Lee Beachill, Chief Operating Officer of the Professional Squash
Association, said: “The British Open is one of the most prestigious
events on the PSA World Tour and it is fantastic news that the event
is now confirmed for 2009. The PSA has been working hard with Paul,
England Squash and Manchester City Council to ensure the British
Open remains one of our showcase events and I’m sure this year’s
championships will raise the bar even further. Every player wants to
win the British Open which is guaranteed to produce some of the most
exciting matches you will ever see.”
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