2020/21 Season Updated: September 2020
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
MEDIA GUIDE 2020/21 SEASON UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 2020 BEST VIEWED WITH ADOBE ACROBAT READER FREE FROM: CONTENTS TOUCH/CLICK ITEMS TO JUMP 1- MESSAGE FROM THE CEO 2 - WATCH & FOLLOW THE PSA WORLD TOUR 3 - AN INTRODUCTION TO SQUASH HISTORY THE COURT PLAYING THE GAME INTERFERENCE - LET, NO LET AND STROKE 4 - ABOUT THE PSA 5 - THE PSA TOUR TIER STRUCTURE PSA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PSA WORLD TOUR - PLATINUM/GOLD/SILVER/BRONZE PSA CHALLENGER TOUR PRIZEMONEY BREAKDOWN 6 - TOURNAMENT INFO PSA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WORLD TOUR PLATINUM TOURNAMENTS 7 - TOP 10 PLAYER INFO WOMEN MEN 8 - PSA ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE 9 - PSA FOUNDATION 10 - PR & MEDIA FAQs MESSAGE FROM THE CEO The 2019/20 PSA World Tour season was undoubtedly one of the most challenging seasons in the sport’s history following the outbreak of COVID-19 midway through and the resulting global pandemic that has plunged many lives into uncertainty. The global lockdowns and international travel restrictions left us with no choice to make the incredibly tough decision to postpone the PSA World Tour season in March. This decision was made with the health and well-being of our players, fans and staff in mind and we thank all of them for their support during what has been a difficult six months for all involved with the sport. However, we all took heart from the way the squash community came together during the darkest days of the pandemic. The reaction from the squash community across social media in particular - from the range of lockdown challenges to the way people turned their homes into squash courts - was incredible and it showed us just how important sport can be in keeping spirits up during these difficult times. We have worked incredibly hard with tournament promoters and our players to finally map out a return to professional squash and we are delighted that our players will make their long-awaited return to court in September 16 at the Manchester Open. We can confirm that three tournaments will go ahead in September and October - the Manchester Open, CIB PSA World Tour Finals and CIB Egyptian Open - and we are hopeful that more major tournaments will follow before 2020 is out. We have also put in place plans to schedule many of the sport’s biggest tournaments - the Allam British Open, the PSA World Championships and the J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions - in the early parts of 2021 and we look forward to announcing these plans publicly in due course. Of course, all of these events will follow strict COVID-19 protocols, meaning that some events will have no fans on-site. We will sorely miss the atmosphere provided by our loyal fans and hope that we will be in a position to open our doors to spectators as soon as is feasibly possible. For now though, we look forward to the future and the many storylines that will develop over the course of the 20/21 season. It’s been too long since our athletes have had the opportunity to entertain us all with their incredible athleticism and tremendous skill and I look forward to watching them all return to action in a season which, given the situation, promises to be one of the most unpredictable campaigns in recent years. We will get our first look at new women’s World No.1 Nouran Gohar, who has taken the coveted spot following the retirement of the legendary Raneem El Welily, who has retired to start a family with husband and reigning World Champion Tarek Momen. We wish Raneem and Tarek all the best for the future and I look forward to seeing the battle for the women’s top spot ignite over the next few months, with Nour El Sherbini, Camille Serme, Nour El Tayeb, Sarah-Jane Perry and Hania El Hammamy all looking to dethrone Gohar. In the men’s game, it will be intriguing to see if Mohamed ElShorbagy can hold on to top spot. He was the man in form last season and ended on a high prior to the suspension following his win over Ali Farag at the St James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic. However, he will face stiff competition from his countrymen - Farag, Momen and Karim Abdel Gawad - while Paul Coll showed that he has taken his game to new levels after reaching the final of both the World Championship and the Windy City Open during a transformative 2019/20 campaign for the New Zealander. I fully believe that, despite the global pandemic, squash is certain to have a bright future and I cannot wait to see what the 2020/21 season has in store for us. Stay safe and enjoy the squash! Alex Gough PSA Chief Executive Officer WATCH & FOLLOW THE PSA WORLD TOUR CLICK LINKS TO JUMP FOR THE LATEST NEWS & INFO PSA WEBSITE: www.psaworldtour.com PSA WORLD TOUR FACEBOOK: PSAWorldTour PSA WORLD TOUR TWITTER: @psaworldtour PSA WORLD TOUR INSTAGRAM: @psaworldtour PSA CHALLENGER FACEBOOK: PSAChallengerTour PSA CHALLENGER TWITTER: @PSAChallenger WATCH WITH SQUASHTV SQUASHTV WEBSITE: www.psaworldtour.com/tv SQUASHTV YOUTUBE: psasquashtv SQUASHTV TWITTER: @squashtv * AND NOW VIA Fa cebook : PSAWorldTour Watch *OUTSIDE EUROPE, JAPAN & UP TO THE SEMI-FINALS BROADCASTERS ONLINE TERRITORY BROADCASTER JAPAN EUROPE Rest of the World Facebook Now Available on Watch outside Europe, Japan & up to the semi-finals TELEVISION TERRITORY BROADCASTER MALAYSIA/BRUNEI ASTRO UK BT Sport SINGAPORE & TAIWAN Eleven Sports AUSTRALIA FOX Sports Australia HONG KONG NOW TV NEW ZEALAND Sky Sports NZ SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA SuperSport THAILAND Truevisions AN INTRODUCTION TO SQUASH Squash is a fast-moving game that requires skill, speed and supreme fitness. The ball can reach speeds of up to 170mph (274kmh) and players can burn off up to 1000 calories per hour of squash - higher than most other sports. HISTORY Harrow School in England is often credited as the birthplace of modern day squash, when the young schoolboys developed their own progression of the game ‘rackets’. In the early eighteenth century, prisoners at the Fleet, London’s notorious debtor’s gaol, created an outdoor version of tennis - called rackets, and it involved no more than smacking a ball, similar to a golf ball, against one or two walls using a stretched tennis bat. Accompanying rackets was another socially-lubricated ball and wall game called fives. Named for the five fingers of the hand, this ancient version of handball was more or less the game of rackets without the racket. Many men played both sports in the same court. Fives grew so popular at English public schools that the two leading forms of the game derived their standards entirely from the quirky spots on campus where the boys played In 1850, Harrow built two open-air rackets courts. With its long, heavy bat and bullet-hard ball, rackets was difficult for an inexperienced boy to learn. Rubber had just come into use and Harrow boys grabbed a rubber ball, sawed off the butt of their racquets and played a slower, easier game in their house yards. This version of racquets was called “baby rackets” or “soft rackets” or “softer.” On 20 January 1865 Harrow officially opened a new complex of rackets and fives courts and the boys jumped on and played their new game of baby rackets. And this game became the game of squash. THE COURT The squash court is a playing surface measuring 9.75m long and 6.4m wide, surrounded by four walls which are normally made out of plaster (traditional court) or glass (all-glass court) with a wooden floor. All four walls of a squash court are included in the playing area and players can use all walls to play their shots - so long as the ball makes contact with the front wall during each shot. The front wall, on which three parallel lines are marked, has the largest playing surface, whilst the back wall, which typically contains the entrance to the court, has the smallest. The ‘out’ line runs along the top of the front wall, descending along the side walls to the back wall - unlike in tennis, a ball that touches the line is deemed to be ‘out’. The middle line of the front wall is the service line and is only relevant during serves. The court floor contains a front line separating the front and back of the court and a half court line, separating the left and right hand sides of the back portion of the court, creating three ‘boxes’: the front half, the back left quarter and the back right quarter. Both of the back two boxes contain smaller service boxes. The floor-markings on a squash court are only relevant during serves. PLAYING THE GAME SCORING All PSA World Tour matches, across both men’s and women’s competitions, are played using a best of five games format. Each game is played with ‘point a rally’ scoring to 11 (PAR 11). If the score in a game is tied at 10-10, play continues until a player wins by 2 clear points. SCORING A POINT In PAR scoring, the winner of a rally always receives a point, regardless of whether they were the server or returner. A point is earned when the opponent either; fails to play a shot before the ball bounces for a second time (double-bounce), hits the ball on or above the marked ‘out lines’ or hits the ‘tin’ - the hard strip on the front wall which acts similar to the net in tennis. The tin - which is 17” tall for PSA events - is normally made of metal and produces a hollow sound when hit to indicate to the players and referee when a shot is down.