The Hi-Tec World Squash Championships – Manchester 2008
herald a significant landmark in the history of the event, being
the first time that the Men’s and Women’s Championships have been
run together in England.
Men’s World Championships
First staged in 1967, the World Championships
have established themselves as the pinnacle of the Squash calendar,
representing the ultimate prize for all competitive players.
Now in their fourth decade the Championships
have undergone several changes in both format and name during their
illustrious history. The event started out as The World Amateur
Individual Championship, which was inaugurated by the ISRF
(International Squash Rackets Federation) in 1967, with the event
being staged every two years in parallel with the World Team
Championships.
However, as a number of players turned
professional in the 1970s, a clamouring began for a professional
Open title to be established in its own right. Initially in
February 1976 a professional Championship was incorporated into the
British Open, but subsequently it developed as the Premier World
Individual Championship.
The illogicality of playing both the World
Amateur Individual and World Professional Open titles in the same
year meant that an agreement was reached between the ISRF and ISPA
(International Squash Players Association), which saw the two
competitions merge to become The World Open. 1983 saw the last ever
staging of the ISRF World Individual Championship, with the World
Championships taking on a completely professional aspect from then
on.
While Australia dominated the Championships in
their early years, Pakistan was to emerge as the world power
house of squash throughout the late 70's and 80's as a then fifteen
year-old Jahangir Khan won his first World title in Australia in
1979. The victory was to be the first of 8 titles for Khan, a feat
later matched by countryman Jansher Khan. (N.B. Jahangir won 8
individual World titles, but two were in the amateur World
Individual World Open, whereas all Jansher’s titles came in the
World Open)
Jansher Khan’s legacy began with victory at the Perspex
‘transparent’ court at the NEC in Birmingham in 1987, which acted
as the launchpad for his complete dominance of the sport until the
mid 90's.
The 1998 championships at Qatar represented a
new landmark in the event’s history with Canadian Jonathon Power
becoming the first ever for a player from North America to win the
sport’s blue riband, however he was unable to defend his title
losing out to Scotsman Peter Nicol the following year.
In 2004 the scoring system was changed, requiring just 11 points to
win a game. It also saw the first ever French winner of the WSF
title with Thierry Lincou taking victory.
WOMEN'S WORLD OPEN
CHAMPIONSHIP
Following on from the success of the Men’s
World Championships throughout the 1970s a World Women's invitation
event was staged in Brisbane, Australia in 1976, which was won by
home favourite, Heather McKay. Following this the WISRF (Women’s
International Squash Rackets Federation) was evolved to run regular
world competitions for individuals and teams.
The first, in 1979 was awarded, to be run
jointly in England, and was fittingly won by the sixteen times
British Open Champion Heather McKay (Australia).
The women's championship was
run separately from the men's version until
2005 when both tournaments were staged together in
Hong Kong. The year was also notable as it
saw Malaysian Nicol David becoming the first ever Asian winner
of the World Open title.
