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Manchester To Host ATCO Super Series Finals
Just
weeks after concluding a seven-year agreement with the
Professional Squash Association (PSA) to
re-launch the PSA Super Series Finals, Ziad
Al-Turki, Vice-President of the ATCO Group,
have confirmed that this year's
championships will be held in Manchester,
England, from 9-12 August.
The
ATCO Super Series Finals – Manchester 2007 will
bring together the top eight qualifiers from the
annual PSA Super Series World Tour and will be
staged on the stunning all-glass show court at the
National Squash Centre in Sportcity. The
four-day championships will feature two pools of four
players, leading to finals which will produce a 1-8
finish.
World
No1 Amr Shabana of Egypt will lead a
star-studded eight-man line-up which will feature
compatriots Karim Darwish and Ramy Ashour,
the new world No2; Australia's World Champion David
Palmer; Thierry Lincou and Gregory
Gaultier of France; and British Open
champion Nick Matthew and James Willstrop
of England.
Ziad Al-Turki
said: "Since acquiring the rights to this major event,
we have been working very hard at finalising a solid
and sustainable platform from which the championships
can prosper over the short,medium and long-term -and
the National Squash Centre in Manchester, with its
unrivalled reputation for hosting major squash
championships, is the ideal venue to kick start a very
exciting period for the event.
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The world's top 8 players clash at Broadgate!!!
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"This year’s
championships will be one of the most exciting and eagerly contested
in Super Series Finals history and will provide the perfect event to
launch the new squash season.”"
ATCO Super Series
Finals – Manchester 2007 will boast one of the richest prize funds
in the sport and we hope to announce a comprehensive programme of TV
coverage in the near future which will ensure that the event is
distributed to the largest possible global audience."
Jim Quigley,
of Manchester City Council, added: "Manchester has
established a reputation for staging world class sporting events,
including many national and international squash championships. The
ATCO Super Series Finals – Manchester 2007, alongside the National
Championships which have found a home in Manchester for the past
nine years, and the Dunlop British Open which will be staged in the
city in September, will play a pivotal role in showcasing the city’s
unrivalled squash development programme.”
Gawain Briars,
Chief Executive of the PSA, concluded: "The ATCO Super Series
Finals have truly arrived. With the most welcome support of
Manchester City Council, we know that presentation this August will
be second to none at one of the world's premier squash destinations
- the National Squash Centre in Manchester. Our continuing thanks
and recognition go to Ziad Al-Turki, Paul Walters, Jim Quigley and
Manchester City Council for their joint efforts in re-launching the
star rating of this world premier event."
Ziad Al-Turki first
became associated with squash in 2005 when he launched the Saudi
International, a PSA Super Series Platinum event in Al-Khobar,
Saudi Arabia.
Super Series Finals Ends Broadgate Run
The
annual Super Series Finals Squash Championship
has ended its long run at the Broadgate Arena
in
London
following the unsuccessful conclusion of 'exhaustive
efforts' by its promoters to secure a new sponsor for
the Professional Squash Association event.
The
Super Series Finals brought together the top eight
qualifiers from the annual PSA Super Series Tour
to compete in a week-long, grand final. First staged
in Switzerland in 1992, the event moved to the unique
location of Broadgate Arena in the heart of London's
Square Mile in 1999 under the direction of promoter
Satinder Bajwa.
The
championship attracted financial support from
British Land plc, owners of the Broadgate Arena -
and, when Equitable Life bowed out in 2002,
Brit Insurance stepped in to take on the title
sponsorship.
The
US-based promoter, through his company Complete
Squash Solutions (CSS), concluded a new agreement
with the PSA last year to retain exclusive rights to
the Super Series Finals for a further five years. The
2007 event was due to take place at Broadgate Arena,
for the ninth successive year, in May.
"Today's news from Satinder Bajwa is very
disappointing," said PSA Chief Executive Gawain
Briars. "We are grateful for his sterling efforts
over the past 11 years in building up one of the most
prestigious events on the PSA World Tour.
"Whilst the likelihood of staging the 2007 event now
is very slim, we will now do everything in our power
to find a new promoter for the event in the nearest
future." |
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