Watershed British Open
Published: 18 Oct 2005 - 08:52 by raystrach
Updated: 18 Oct 2005 - 17:53
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The 2005 British Open has two first time winners, Nicol David from Malaysia and Australia's Anthony Ricketts. Congratulations to you both from SquashGame.info!
You can view match reports at www.britishopensquash.com
This year's results are interesting for me and significant fo Squash for two reasons.
With Frenchman, Thierry Lincou, the World men's No.1, Squash has come of age as an international game. Although David, a child prodigy who won the World Junior title at 13, has won international events before, winning tournaments with the status of the British Open will raise her profile throughout Asia and will give the game of Squash a new face. The success of Ong Beng Hee will also help give Squash a boost in the emerging Asian market.
Greater success in Asia can do nothing but help the international game at the top level. It will also lead directly to increased prizemony and exposure and just might lead to Squash gaining belated acceptance to the 2012 Olympics.
The success of Anthony Ricketts will have a similar effect but for different reasons. This tournament showed that, unlike in the past where one or two players dominated the scene, anyone in the top 10 was capable of winning with the possibility of a lower ranked bolter achieving success.
The final was seed 6 v seed 7. WR 3 (Palmer)was knocked out by WR 17 (Ong), WR 29 (Boswell) defeated WR 4 (Beachill). Recently and Egyptian (Shabana), a Fin (Tuominen) and another Frenchman (Gaultier) have been excelling.
This spread of talent across a wide range of rankings and countries illustrates a maturity in the game which will also bring respect - from the the public at large but perhaps more importantly, from decision makers at the top end of sports administration (eg the IOC) and in the corporate world, ie, those who decide sponsorships.
I will be looking forward to see talent from the USA, South America, China and Russia emerging soon to make the global reach of Squash at the top level complete.
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You can view match reports at www.britishopensquash.com
This year's results are interesting for me and significant fo Squash for two reasons.
- Nicol David is the first true Asian champion (although I know that Pakistan is technically in Asia)
- The men's ranks are now more open than ever before with as many as 10 players genuinely capable of winning any tournament
With Frenchman, Thierry Lincou, the World men's No.1, Squash has come of age as an international game. Although David, a child prodigy who won the World Junior title at 13, has won international events before, winning tournaments with the status of the British Open will raise her profile throughout Asia and will give the game of Squash a new face. The success of Ong Beng Hee will also help give Squash a boost in the emerging Asian market.
Greater success in Asia can do nothing but help the international game at the top level. It will also lead directly to increased prizemony and exposure and just might lead to Squash gaining belated acceptance to the 2012 Olympics.
The success of Anthony Ricketts will have a similar effect but for different reasons. This tournament showed that, unlike in the past where one or two players dominated the scene, anyone in the top 10 was capable of winning with the possibility of a lower ranked bolter achieving success.
The final was seed 6 v seed 7. WR 3 (Palmer)was knocked out by WR 17 (Ong), WR 29 (Boswell) defeated WR 4 (Beachill). Recently and Egyptian (Shabana), a Fin (Tuominen) and another Frenchman (Gaultier) have been excelling.
This spread of talent across a wide range of rankings and countries illustrates a maturity in the game which will also bring respect - from the the public at large but perhaps more importantly, from decision makers at the top end of sports administration (eg the IOC) and in the corporate world, ie, those who decide sponsorships.
I will be looking forward to see talent from the USA, South America, China and Russia emerging soon to make the global reach of Squash at the top level complete.
How to add images to Members' Forum posts and replies here...
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From Viper - 18 Oct 2005 - 17:53
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Given we have had a procession of world beaters over the years and little has come of these outstanding results, one would have to be less than optomistic.
Further to that I wonder how marketable Ricketts would prove to be ?
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