British Open Squash Championships Announced

Thursday, 2nd July 2009

internationalSPORTgroup™ and event partners England Squash & Racketball, Manchester City Council and HEAD Sport have announced that this year's British Open Squash Championships will be staged at the National Squash Centre in Manchester from the 8th to 14th September and will "fly in the face of the worldwide recession."

"The economic landscape of the past twelve months has changed dramatically and has affected all sports at all levels," said internationalSPORTgroup™ Chief Executive Officer Paul Walters, the event promoters.

"Despite the tough economic climate and obvious challenges, we have worked very hard with our event partners to ensure that we deliver a world class event worthy of the championships unrivalled heritage. The circumstances are not dissimilar to those that we inherited in 2005 when we staged the British Open for the first time. We organised a great event then and we'll organise a great event again this year."

"Whilst a title sponsor is yet to be announced, the 2009 British Open has received significant backing from Manchester City Council, England Squash & Racketball and HEAD Sport, the championships official racket and footwear partner. However, the British Open, widely regarded as the 'Wimbledon of Squash', remains in the marketplace seeking commercial partnerships at all levels."

"The National Squash Centre in Manchester is regarded as one of the finest purpose built squash facilities in the world and the event layout will be consistent with the first British Open that internationalSPORTgroup™ promoted in 2005, as well as three successful stagings of the British Grand Prix from 2004 to 2006, and the 2007 ATCO Super Series Finals. The support and commitment that we have received to date from our partners will ensure that the sport's blue riband event will again feature the world's leading male and female professional players", concluded Walters.

Nick Rider, Chief Executive of England Squash & Racketball, said: "The British Open has a unique reputation, as it has an unrivalled history in the sport of squash and continues to attract the best players around. We held a great World Championships here last year - this is another terrific opportunity to see the finest exponents do battle for one of the sport's most important prizes. That we can do so with a strong partnership in difficult economic climate is all the more pleasing."

Councillor Mike Amesbury, Manchester City Council's Executive Member for Culture and Leisure, said: "We are delighted to be bringing the British Open back to Manchester in what we hope will be a landmark year for the sport. Since the establishment of the National Squash Centre we have developed a tradition of attracting the world's best squash players to the city and they know they are always assured of a warm welcome. Their presence also serves as an inspiration to our up and coming young players, emerging from what we believe is the best squash development programme in the country. We look forward to welcoming the squash family to Manchester in September and to a fantastic week of world class sport."

Lee Beachill,  Chief Operating Officer of the Professional Squash Association, said: "The British Open is one of the most prestigious events on the PSA World Tour and it is fantastic news that the event is now confirmed for 2009. The PSA has been working hard with internationalSPORTgroup™, England Squash and Manchester City Council to ensure the British Open remains one of our showcase events and I'm sure this year's championships will raise the bar even further. Every player wants to win the British Open which is guaranteed to produce some of the most exciting matches you will ever see."

Tickets for the British Open - Manchester 2009 can be booked online at www.isportgroup.com/ticketing by telephone on 0870 220 0735 or for further information email: .

Buy One, Get One Free ticket offers for the British Open - Manchester 2009 are exclusive to iSPORTvip™ Squash Members. To purchase iSPORTvip™ Squash Membership online, visit: www.isportgroup.com/shop.

Issued by isportgroup.com/SquashNews