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Nick Matthew & Nicol David Win Player of Year Awards
Video highlights of the Awards Dinner at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVOxlRV0muI
 While
Nick Matthew (left) and Nicol David were honoured as Players
of the Year at the annual World Squash Awards, it was local
legends Frank Stella and Mark Talbott that stole the show at the
dinner which attracted more than 150 leading figures from the squash world in
the stunning Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal in New
York.
The
sixth year of the prestigious awards event was the first to be staged outside of
the UK since being inaugurated by founders Eventis Sports Marketing and
highlights the growing popularity of the global sport.
Nick Matthew
had an outstanding year, winning the World Open, two Commonwealth Gold medals,
and finishing the year as world No1. The Englishman received the PSA
Player of the Year award, for the first time, from the PSA CEO Alex
Gough.
If
the men’s award was clear cut then there can never have been any doubt that
Nicol David, the Malaysian - unbeaten in the whole of 2010 - would collect
the WISPA Player of the Year award for the sixth year in a row!
Unable to attend the ceremony, David sent a message via Tim Garner, WISPA
Tour Director, from her training base in Australia - which included thanks to
her fellow WISPA members for voting for her, and a comment that will send a
chill through her rivals: She is deep in training so that she would be ‘a
little better’ next year!
 Egyptian
Mohamed El Shorbagy
(right)received
the PSA Young Player of the Year award for a second year running
from PSA Chief Operating Officer Lee Beachill. The 19-year-old from
Alexandria rose in to the world's top 10 with numerous impressive performances
on the PSA World Tour.
Nour El Tayeb,
(right) also from Egypt, won the WISPA Young Player of the Year
award, receiving her plaque from WISPA President Natalie Grainger. The
Egyptian 17-year-old had flown all the way from Cairo with her parents to accept
the award, and was delighted to be there.
The
award for the WISPA Most Improved Player of the Year - presented
by WISPA Board member Suzie Pierrepont - went to Kasey Brown, the
25-year-old from Australia who had earlier in the evening won her first round
match in the Harrow Greenwich Open.
Another first was the presence of the ISDA who oversee the US
Hardball doubles tour. They recognised the achievements of their members, with
Greg Park collecting ISDA Rookie of the Year, and Damien Mudge
& Viktor Berg winning ISDA Team of the Year.
A
special Services to Squash award was made to artist Frank
Stella, who is widely recognised as having brought the two codes of squash
in the USA, softball & hardball, together. Former PSA Board member Clive
Caldwell presented Stella with the award, who was greeted with a standing
ovation.
The
second standing ovation rounded off the evening when Ned Edwards
presented American icon Mark Talbott with the Lifetime Achievement
Award. Widely considered to be the first player to be able to switch
between hardball and traditional squash, Talbott fought out many battles in the
80s with the legendary Jahangir Khan, who was looking to dominate both
codes.
Earlier in the evening US International Natalie Grainger was recognised
for a glittering professional career that spanned 14 years, including a stay at
world No1.
The
evening was hosted by Eventis’ Peter Nicol and John Nimick, who
will now turn his attention to the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions,
taking place in the same Grand Central Terminal this week.
“It
is especially fitting that Mark and Frank were honoured as each of them played a
significant role in the sport’s explosion in popularity here in the US in the
1980s,” said Nimick
The
World Squash Awards were founded in 2005 by Eventis Sports Marketing and
are endorsed annually by the World Squash Federation (WSF), the
Professional Squash Association (PSA) and the Women's International
Squash Players' Association (WISPA). The World Squash Awards Gala Dinner
was presented by Lexington Partners.
World Squash Awards
winners:
Nick Matthew - PSA 2010 Player of the
Year
Nicol David - WISPA 2010 Player of the
Year
Mohamed El Shorbagy - PSA 2010 Young
Player of the Year
Nour El Tayeb - WISPA 2010 Young Player
of the Year
Kasey Brown - WISPA 2010 Most Improved
Player of the Year
Greg Park - ISDA 2010 Rookie of the Year
Damien Mudge - ISDA 2010 Team of the
Year
Frank Stella - Services To Squash Award
Mark Talbott - Lifetime Achievement
Award
Video highlights of the Awards Dinner at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVOxlRV0muI
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