A few months ago, we heard the news: after numerous years serving Squash, Mr Ali Bin Ali and his board has stepped down from the Squash Federation in Qatar. We squash fans/lovers got so used to his kindness and presence for so many years, we didn't imagine that that day would come!

But it has and we are extremely excited to see that the President of the Tennis Federation has now taken over the Squash Federation in an effort to regroup the racquet sports under a single umbrella.

Unless you were living on the moon, you must have heard about the football transfer that got journalists all over the world report and comment: the arrival of Neymar in Paris St Germain, France. The amount paid for his tranfer "a fait couler beaucoup d'encre", filled a few newpapers....

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Paris St Germain since October 2011, Mr Nasser Al-Khelaïf is also the Qatari Tennis Federation President and since December 2016, the President of the Squash Federation.

Who is Mr Al-Khelaïf?

He is hugely popular in French Footall, his growing influence in the sport was recognised in 2015 when he was crowned ‘favourite Ligue 1 President’ in a poll conducted by France Football, with 35% of the votes cast.

In 2016, the French sporting title L'Equipe named him the ’most powerful man in French football’ in a 30-man list, ahead of notable individuals such as Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane.

But fewer people in Europe and elsewhere know that Mr Al-Khelaïfi’s first love is Tennis.

As a tennis professional, he was the second most successful member of the Qatar Davis Cup team after Sultan Khalfan, a member of the Qatar National Tennis Team with which he won the GCC Team Tournament and went on the ATP Tour as well.

More important for our sport, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was elected president of the Qatar Tennis Federation in November 2008. It sounds therefore logical that he was asked to chair the Squash and Badminton Qatari Federation in an effort to regroup the three racquet sports under one single energy.

The New Board

So, on the 25th December 2016, Nasser Ghanim Al Khelaifi has been elected unopposed as President of Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation (QTSBF) alongside Tarek Zainal ( Secretary General), Yousef Al Obaidely, Khalid Al Khelaifi and Karim Alami (members), according to QOC.

The General Assembly saw new 8 members joined the QTSBF like: Saad Saleh Al Mohannadi, Ibrahim Saleh Al Khelaifi, Ahmed Al- Batti, Ahmed Sultan Al Obaidely, Abdulrahman Al Hadad, Mohammed Yousef Al Mulla, Hamad Saad Al Kuwari and Mariam Al Ali.

The QTSBF Secretary General Tariq Zainal declared:

“We will be keen on serving and promoting the three games. The technical structures of squash and Badminton will remain unchanged.

“The sole change following the merger of the three federations, took place in the board of directors. The nomination process was open for all board members of the squash and badminton federations but none of them was nominated for membership of the QTSBF.”

So we thank Mr Ali Bin Ali, former President of the Qatari Federation, who has done so much in supporting Squash in Qatar for years now, and we are truly excited to have such a racquet lover to lead the way in Qatar.

Ah, as a superb cherry on the SquashCake, Mr Al-Khelaïfi happens to be also the Chairman for beIN, with its 17 HD channels across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, North America, Australia and Asia, and broadcasts squash all over the World.

Who could ask for anything more? Bienvenue dans le Monde du Squash, Sir.

Sources:
QNA
Wikipedia