World’s Best Players On Board For America’s
Premier Squash Championship
The 2010 JP Morgan Tournament of Champions will feature three
returning title-holders among the world’s best professional squash
players entered in the draw of America’s largest professional squash
championship to be played in Grand Central Terminal in New York from
22-28 January.
"This year’s Tournament of Champions features an extremely
competitive draw,” said Tournament Director John Nimick.
“Five players have held the world No1 ranking, three of whom have
also captured the coveted Tournament of Champions trophy.”
The three returning title-holders are defending champion Gregory
Gaultier of France and Egypt’s Amr Shabana and Ramy
Ashour, who became world number one for the first time last
week. Karim Darwish, also of Egypt, who held the No1 ranking
for most of 2009, will be the tournament’s top seed.
The JP Morgan Tournament of Champions, which continues to be Grand
Central Terminal’s only annual world class sporting event, is a PSA
Super Series event featuring a 32-player main draw and a 32-player
qualification tournament.
The tournament is sanctioned by the Professional Squash Association,
the regulatory body for elite international men’s competition and
the men’s world rankings - and is the first event of the 2010 PSA
World Tour Super Series programme, full details of which will be
announced shortly.
“The ToC is my favourite tournament on the tour,” said defending
champion Gaultier, who enjoyed one month at the top of the world
rankings late last year. “My win last year was a dream that came
true. The Grand Central Terminal venue is just amazing - it is the
best way to show people our sport by setting up a glass court in a
place where tens of thousands of spectators pass by every day.”
Players representing 20 countries will compete in the Tournament of
Champions, including two Americans, Julian Illingworth and Gilly
Lane. Illingworth, a native of Portland, Oregon, who now resides
in New York City, has achieved the highest international ranking
ever of any US player. Philadelphian Lane, the No2 ranking US
player, has received a wild card entry into the draw.
Egypt has eight players entered in the championship, so it is
fitting that the newest sponsor of the tournament is Egypt Tourism
Authority, which will give away two free trips to Egypt during the
Tournament. “Egypt has been well represented by our squash players
who have achieved such great success on the PSA global tour,” said
Elsayed Khalifa, Director of the Egyptian Tourist Authority
in New York.
“We look forward to supporting them in the Tournament as well as the
opportunity to let the fans and Grand Central spectators know more
about Egypt as a great travel destination. We are thrilled with our
association for the first time with this prestigious tournament and
can’t wait to celebrate its success.”
World’s Largest Squash Spectator Event Returns
to Grand Central Terminal
The grandeur, excitement and intensity of North America’s premier
squash championship, the Tournament of Champions, returns to
Grand Central Terminal in New York from 22-28 January 2010.
"This will be our 13th year of bringing the world’s best squash
players to the heart of New York City, and the competition promises
to be more exciting than ever," said John Nimick, tournament
director and president of Squash Engine. "Among the field of the
world’s top 32 players expected to compete, we anticipate having
three past ToC titleholders in the field – Amr Shabana,
winner of the 2009 World Open; Gregory Gaultier, who became
the world’s No1 ranked player in November; and Ramy Ashour,
2009 World Open runner-up who will be world number one during the
tournament."
Underneath the glittering chandeliers in Vanderbilt Hall, the
four-walled glass court will once again showcase the speed, skill
and fitness of the world’s best squash players in the sport’s most
exciting venue. The combination of the perennial sold-out stadium
seating and the public viewing available on the front wall by what
is expected to be more than 150,000 Grand Central commuters during
tournament week makes Tournament of Champions the largest squash
spectator event in the world.
"One very special occurrence will happen this year as some time in
the early part of the ToC week, our two millionth free spectator
will be introduced to squash and enjoy the dynamic nature of this
compelling sport," adds Nimick.
A PSA Super Series event, the Tournament of Champions features a
32-player main draw and a 32-player qualification tournament. While
the top ranking players in the men’s professional ranks vie for one
of the sport’s most coveted crowns, amateur players will compete in
the Grand Open, a companion citywide tournament run by the
Metropolitan Squash Racquets Association and top junior players will
contest the ToC Junior Open.
The championship debuted as the US Professional Championship in 1930
and was renamed the Tournament of Champions in 1993 when it was
presented in the third of its four years at the Winter Garden in the
World Financial Center. The tournament then moved to Grand Central
Terminal in 1995, where its annual presence since has been
interrupted only by the Terminal’s renovation from 1996-1998. The
Tournament of Champions has truly lived up to its name - all but
three of the titleholders have either been No1 in the world
rankings, or a World Champion.
