04-Jun-07:
Manchester To Host
ATCO Super Series Finals
Just weeks after concluding a seven-year agreement with the PSA to
re-launch the PSA Super Series Finals, Ziad Al-Turki,
Vice-President of the ATCO Group, and Paul Walters, founder
of the internationalSPORTgroup, have confirmed that this year's
championships will be held in Manchester, England, from 9-12 August.
The ATCO Super Series Finals – Manchester 2007 will bring together
the top eight qualifiers from the annual PSA Super Series World Tour
and will be staged on the stunning all-glass show court at the
National Squash Centre in Sportcity. The four-day championships
will feature two pools of four players, leading to finals which will
produce a 1-8 finish.
World No1 Amr Shabana of Egypt will lead a star-studded eight-man
line-up which will feature compatriots Karim Darwish and Ramy
Ashour, the new world No2; Australia's World Champion David Palmer;
Thierry Lincou and Gregory Gaultier of France; and British Open
champion Nick Matthew and James Willstrop of England.
 "The
Super Series Finals is without question one of the most important
events on the PSA World Tour and Ziad and I are very grateful for
the support of Manchester City Council in helping to stage this
year's event at such short notice.
"ATCO Super Series Finals – Manchester 2007 will boast one of the
richest prize funds in the sport and we hope to announce a
comprehensive programme of TV coverage in the near future which will
ensure that the event is distributed to the largest possible global
audience."
 "Manchester
has established a reputation for staging world class sporting
events, including many national and international squash
championships. The ATCO Super Series Finals – Manchester 2007,
alongside the National Championships which have found a home in
Manchester for the past nine years, and the Dunlop British Open
which will be staged in the city in September, will play a pivotal
role in showcasing the city’s unrivalled squash development
programme."
Manchester City Council
 "The
ATCO Super Series Finals have truly arrived. With the most welcome
support of Manchester City Council, we know that presentation this
August will be second to none at one of the world's premier squash
destinations - the National Squash Centre in Manchester. Our
continuing thanks and recognition go to Ziad Al-Turki, Paul Walters,
Jim Quigley and Manchester City Council for their joint efforts in
re-launching the star rating of this world premier event."
Chief Executive of the PSA |
 "Since
acquiring the rights to this major event, we have been working very
hard at finalising a solid and sustainable platform from which the
championships can prosper over the short, medium and long-term - and
the National Squash Centre in Manchester, with its unrivalled
reputation for hosting major squash championships, is the ideal
venue to kick start a very exciting period for the event.
"This year’s championships will be one of the most exciting and
eagerly contested in Super Series Finals history and will provide
the perfect event to launch the new squash season."
Ziad Al-Turki first
became associated with squash in 2005 when he launched the Saudi
International, a PSA Super Series Platinum event in Al-Khobar,
Saudi Arabia.
Paul Walters, who launched the internationalSPORTgroup in 2004, in
addition to managing a number of the top players, also promotes the
British Open, as well as the Wolverhampton Open and
new English Grand Prix. |
