WORLD OPEN SQUASH CHAMPIONS RELISHING OPPORTUNITY TO
DEFEND THEIR TITLES IN MANCHESTER IN 2008
Reigning World Open Squash Champions Amr Shabana of
Egypt and Rachael Grinham from Australia have been speaking this
week about their excitement of defending their recently captured
crowns in Manchester next October, when the city plays host to the
Hi-Tec World Squash Championships – Manchester
2008.
The ‘baton’ for the Championships was
officially passed onto Manchester at the closing ceremony of the
Men’s World Open in Bermuda last Sunday (2nd December),
which saw Shabana become only the fourth man in the history of the
game to win three World titles, joining an elite roll of honour
which features the illustrious names of Geoff Hunt, Jahangir Khan
and Jansher Khan.
Shabana, the World Number 1, said, “I’m
really looking forward to defending my title in Manchester. I have
played there numerous times but haven’t always performed to my
best. Yet everytime I go back to Manchester I do a little better so
hopefully when I’m there next October I will be that bit better and
recapture my title.”
While victory in Bermuda guaranteed Shabana
his place in the history books, it was not something the Giza-based
player had been thinking too much about. He said, “I never
really think about being the fourth player to win three titles. I
started the season just wanting to maintain my World Number 1 spot
and retain my World Open title which I had lost in 2006 in my home
town!
“Those were my two main goals. You can’t
really go into a season and think about statistics like that as
there are so many good players out there. But now I’ve won the
title back and people mention it, it’s great to be compared with
the greats.”
The nine day Championships, which get under
way in Manchester on Saturday October 11th next year,
will be the first time the Men’s and Women’s World Open
Championships have been run concurrently in England, and only the
second time ever in the history of the sport.
Having captured the World Open title for the
first time in her career in Madrid in October, Australia’s Rachael
Grinham can not wait to get to Manchester, saying, “I’m
definitely looking forward to defending my title there. Until this
year I’d been kind of unlucky in Manchester, but now having won the
British Open there I’ve got good memories.”
The Cairo-based player is also relishing the
chance of playing in front of the Manchester crowds and said,
“Britain is always a good place to play and has always
been one of the strongest nations in squash. The strength of their
local non-professional players must be well above anywhere else in
the world, so the atmosphere of having such a knowledgeable and
appreciative crowd is awesome.”
The Hi-Tec World Squash Championships –
Manchester 2008 are not the only world-class sporting event to be
coming to Manchester in 2008, with the city also hosting the UCI
Track Cycling World Championships, the 9th FINA World
Swimming Championships (25m), the BUPA Great Manchester Run and the
UEFA Cup Final.
Tickets are already on sale for The Hi-Tec
World Squash Championships can be purchased for the official
website - http://www.worldsquash2008.com/
which also has full details on the event.
For further information about the
Hi-Tec World Squash Championships – Manchester 2008 or high
resolution photography please contact the Event Press Office at
Capitalize:
Jonathon Bates
Telephone: 020 7940 1708 / 020 7940
1700
Mobile: 07825 427 461
E-mail:jbates@capitalize.co.uk
Daniel Krendel
Telephone: 020 7940 1733 / 020 7940
1700
Mobile: 07825 602
549
E-mail:dkrendel@capitalize.co.uk