29-Dec-06:
World's best head for
Toronto season's opener
The eyes of the squash world will be fixed on Toronto when the
biggest and richest international squash tournament in Canadian
history rolls into town. The PACE Canadian Squash Classic presented
by Dundee Securities, January 9th to 12th at the John Bassett
Theatre in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, has
attracted thirty-two of the top players in the world.
 Amr
Shabana leads the pack for the first PSA and Super Series Squash
event of the season. The 27 year old world number one from Cairo has
been on a hot streak all year, claiming his sixth title of the
season at the Saudi International last week. Squash fans will recall
that Shabana opened the 2006 season winning the PACE Canadian Squash
Classic against Canada’s former world #1 Jonathon Power.
 World
Open Champion David Palmer from Australia currently holds
down the #2 spot on the PSA world rankings, but a major challenge is
expected from France’s Gregory Gaultier who has had a
meteoric rise through the rankings this year, moving from 12th to
3rd at the close of the ’06 season when he ousted Palmer from the
semi-finals at the Saudi International.
Canada’s Jonathon Power, recently retired from pro-squash but
never far from the action, will have a front row seat for the 7th
annual PACE Canadian Squash Classic. The 2006 Sports Hall of Fame
inductee will act as Player Chairman and provide pre-match
highlights for attendees each evening of the tournament.
Power, who coaches at the Power Squash Academy in Hanover, New
Hampshire with his father John and brother Ian, has some definite
opinions on the player line-up for the opening tournament of the
2007 season.
 "Amr
has been almost invincible this past season, holding the #1 spot in
both the PSA and Super Series standings," says Power. Shabana
dominated the 2006 world standings, celebrating his tenth
consecutive month as world #1 in December.
Power, a three-time Canadian Classic winner, is predicting an intense semi-final clash between Shabana and
Gaultier, who boasts a 5-2 head to head record over the #1 ranked
Egyptian. Potential upsets to the established order could come from
Egypt’s teenage squash sensation, sixth seed Ramy Ashour
and/or England’s seventh seed James Willstrop who plays a
brilliant mind game of squash with Shabana.
More than just Elite
The PACE Canadian Squash Classic brings more than the elite side of
the sport to Toronto. On Sunday January 7th twelve of the top
international players will meet at the Mayfair Lakeshore Racquet &
Fitness Club for a Junior Jamboree with sixty kids from
across the GTA.
On-court instruction with the visiting world pros is not only the
opportunity of a lifetime for these kids, but also dovetails with
Squash Ontario’s educational initiative to fight the growing problem
of child obesity. Squash is one of the fastest growing sports in the
world played by over 15 million people. Rated the #1 healthiest
sport by Forbes magazine, squash is played by over 300,000 Canadians
at 425 clubs, with the greatest concentration in Ontario.
Unique to international squash tournaments, and a first for the PACE
Canadian Squash Classic, is the Canadian Teaching Pro
Championships. Professional squash coaches from clubs across
Ontario and Quebec will meet for first round and quarter finals at
Toronto club facilities, with the semi-final and final matches held
on the glass court at the PACE Canadian Squash Classic Thursday (Jan
11th) and Friday (Jan 12th).
"The Canadian Teaching Pro Championship supports the grassroots
level of our club-based sport," says Dennis Goodfellow,
Squash Director for the Toronto Athletic Club and the
architect/manager of the Teaching Pro Championships. Squash club
pros have rallied behind the concept with participation coming from
the Wellington, Cambridge, Glenway, Parkview, Badminton & Racquet,
Adelaide, Toronto Lawn and MAA clubs.
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APPEAL
 Framboise,
along with David Barry, will be in Toronto as we bring you the full
SquashSite coverage, but as qualifying and round one take place at
three clubs, we would love to have some help in covering these
matches (we haven't quite perfected that cloning technique yet!)
So, if you will be at the Cambridge Club, Badminton &
Racket Club or Toronto Athletic Club and can help with
reports, photos, quotes, please get in touch ...
cc@squashsite.co.uk
2006 Event
Proceeds from this
year’s Pro-Am Invitational held Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday on the glass court will help support the Prostate Cancer
Research Foundation of Canada (www.prostatecancer.ca).
"Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and it is our
mission to raise awareness and funds for lifesaving research into
the disease. We are pleased and grateful to be the beneficiary of
this important event that furthers the work of our Foundation."
President and CEO
of the Foundation
John Bassett Theatre
PACE Savings &
Credit Union, entering its fourth year as title sponsor,
continues to drive the tournament expansion, while Dundee
Securities returns as presenting sponsor and TSN
continues as the broadcast sponsor with 60 minutes of primetime
coverage. TD Newcrest and The Globe and Mail return as
co-sponsors, while FundServ joins returning associate
sponsors Primus, Cambridge Group of Clubs, Dunlop,
AVW TelAv and Tom’s Place.
"As the official financial institution for Squash Ontario, PACE
Savings & Credit Union Ltd. is pleased to be the returning title
sponsor of this fantastic event in support of the Prostate Cancer
Research Foundation of Canada."
PACE CEO
TICKETS
Patron packages are available with five session packages, including
the Tuesday matinee, ranging from $150.00 to $600.00 p.p.
Individual ticket prices range from $20 to $120 p.p. for each
session.
For tournament information, schedules and/or tickets, call
416.730.0277 or email
tickets@prosquash.ca |
 No
rest for the Squash Professional
Malcolm Willstrop previews Toronto
 There
is, so it is said, no peace for the wicked … there is certainly
little rest for the squash professional, since the Canadian Classic
is a few days away.
The combination of inactivity and parties is hardly conducive to
performing on a squash court and desirable as it is for any top
level sportsman to preserve the normality in his/her life, the
squash professional is back in work.
When I went into the club on Boxing Day Lee Beachill,
James Willstrop, Anthony Ricketts, Stewart Boswell
and Shelley Kitchen were all exercising, either in the gym or
on the court. No doubt they will all enjoy New Year's Eve and
working this week will be an indemnity. Nor is it any great
sacrifice, since most of the squad players don't feel good if they
are not training, and contrary to how it may look from time to time,
they enjoy playing.
Only Lincou is absent from Toronto and as so often happens these
days the draw is crucial and repeatedly throws up oddities. Amr
Shabana, confirmed ad the world's number one, Ramy Ashour
and Mohammed Abbas, who played well in Saudi Arabia, are all
in the same quarter but the rest is more of a mix than usual.
 Should seedings work out the quarter-final lineup would read:
Shabana v Ashour, Gaultier v Ricketts,
Darwish v Matthew and Palmer v Willstrop.
There are plenty of obstacles though: Gaultier has Beachill to get
past, Darwish has White, Matthew has El Hindi and Willstrop has
Boswell. Recent events tell us that upsets, if that is what they
are, occur on a regular basis. The early rounds on outside courts
are a death trap, often attritional, thus bringing together players
when there is quite a gap in standard.
Shabana, Ashour - even though Darwish beat him in Saudi - and
Gaultier are currently the men to beat and they are all in the top
half. Preparation over the holiday period is an additional factor
and those who get that right will not only have done well, but will
have an advantage.
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