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WISPA Announce The Soho Square Women's World
Open
The stunning Egyptian Red
Sea resort Soho Square at Sharm El Sheikh will host The Soho
Square Women’s World Open Squash Championship from 15-22 September 2010.
Soho Square debuted as a
WISPA World Tour event in 2009, but this is the first time Egypt will host the
Women’s World Open, the most prestigious WISPA event featuring a ground-breaking
prize money fund of $US147,000.
This is by far the biggest
prize fund ever for a WISPA Tour event - and sends a powerful message that
women’s squash is a valuable entertainment property and that the Tour is
enjoying steady growth around the world.
The tournament will be
staged at Soho Square Sharm El Sheikh, which is part of the premier
resort in Sharm El Sheikh’s shopping and entertainment complex, where the first
round of the main draw onwards will be competed on an all-glass show court. On
the back of the previous, successful Soho Square WISPA Tour event held in 2009,
the high-end destination resort decided to build permanent squash courts and the
three rounds of qualification will be competed on these newly-constructed
courts.
Welcoming the new
partnership, WISPA President and Principal Natalie Grainger said: "WISPA
is extremely excited about staging the biggest ever Women’s World Open Squash
Championship to be held in Soho Square, Sharm El Sheikh. I would like to thank
and congratulate Mr Emad Aziz for his vision in creating this fabulous
opportunity.
"It is the first time that
the Women’s World Open will be competed in Egypt. With Egypt currently holding
the Women’s World Team title, backed up by a current crop of highly world-ranked
junior players coming through, it is the right time to host this most
prestigious event in a country that has such a rich tradition of producing
talented squash champions. I look forward to visiting Soho Square in Sharm El
Sheikh, taking part in this grand event as well as enjoying the fine dining and
other entertainment!’
Savoy-Sharm General
Manager Ramy Rizkallah was equally enthusiastic about the substantial
elevation of Soho Square Sharm El Sheikh’s partnership with WISPA: "We achieve
our popularity and success by offering not only top quality accommodation and
catering, but also so much more besides for our guests. I am certain that the
opportunity to watch the top players in the world competing for the Soho Square
World Open trophy will be thrilling for everybody."
The Egyptian Squash Federation President
Assem Khalifa expressed delight too: "We are very pleased to hold this
tournament in our country as it fits our government policy to encourage women's
sport. We have hosted the Women's World Team Championships, the Women’s Junior
World Championships and now, under the direction of Dr Ahmed Said, we are
delighted to be part of this very important event."
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