Pro Squash Rolls Into Grand Central ...
Sixth Annual Tournament is Richest Ever
The 6th annual week-long celebration of one of the world's most challenging sports takes place on a portable, see-through squash court February 22-27, 2003 and features all of the world's top male and female professional players. The Vanderbilt Hall set-up contains a state-of-the-art 20,000 lbs portable glass squash court, gallery seating for 550, and free viewing for the public.
Offering a total of $100,000 in prize money, the Harrisdirect Tournament of Champions features two world-class player fields.
SUPER SERIES PSA EVENT
The 56-player men's draw, a world ranking, Professional Squash
Association-sanctioned "Super Series" event, includes #1 ranked Peter Nicol
(England), #2 and defending champion Jonathon Power (Canada), #3 and current
World Champion David Palmer (Australia), #4 Stewart Boswell (Australia), #5
John White (Scotland), #6 Thierry Lincou (France) and the rest of the
world's top ten. The men's tournament is the fifth largest on the 2003 World
Tour.
SILVER WISPA EVENT
The 28-player women's draw, sponsored by Arader & O'Rourke, Inc., is
scheduled to include #1 Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Australia), #2 Carol Owens (New
Zealand) and newly declared American Natalie Pohrer, a former South African
now ranked #3 by the Women's International Squash Players Association. The
Arader & O'Rourke Women's ToC Open is designated a Silver event on the WISPA
World Tour and is a "top ten" ranking tournament.
The host broadcaster for the tournament is The Tennis Channel, a new,
advertiser supporting cable network. Time Warner Cable is a keystone
distributor of The Tennis Channel. A minimum of seven hours of original
programming will be produced from the later rounds of both draws, with
weekly broadcast dates starting in mid-March 2003.
In a new addition to the tournament, a special opening event called
FitFair is planned for Friday night February 21. FitFair will provide
free health and fitness information and introduce the lifetime sport of
squash to attending youth and community groups.
Other activity during the tournament week includes extensive recreational
competition in the Grand Open, a companion city-wide amateur tournament; and
recognition of StreetSquash, a charitable youth-oriented, inner city program
which blends squash, academics, community service, and mentoring.
The 2003 Harrisdirect Tournament of Champions is the largest male
professional squash tournament in North America and the overall tournament,
including the women's division, is the second largest combined event in the
world.
2002 Gallery
from SquashPics
For ticket information
and session times,
call Zerline Goodman
718.488.6262
or email
toc.squash@verizon.net