A Breakthrough For The Women’s Game by Elliot Selby
December 13, 2011-
The Women’s Squash Association is delighted to announce that the
top eight players in the World Series ranking will join the men at the
ATCO PSA World Series Finals in January 2012.
To be held between January 4th and 8th at the prestigious Queen’s
Club in West London, one of the most renowned venues in the world for
racquet sports, it will be a fitting climax to an exciting year for
squash.
With PSA and WSA, the professional tours for the men’s and
women’s game, now working in ever-increasing harmony, the sport
is making dramatic progress in television coverage, venue presentation,
international distribution, prize-money and audience numbers,
especially in its elite World Series events.
WSA and PSA have also formed a powerful triumvirate with the world
governing body, the WSF, in a bid for squash to be included in the
Olympic Programme for the 2020 Olympic Games; a bid that is being
noticeably strengthened by the significant recent progress in the sport.
The ATCO PSA World Series Finals at The Queen’s Club is a perfect illustration of the new strength of the game.
Joining the world’s best men, will be a stunning array of the
very best in the women’s game who qualified in the following
World Series order:
- Nicol David from Malaysia, world number 1, 6 times world champion and the holder of 57 WSA titles.
- England’s Jenny Duncalf, ranked 2 in the world, with 9 tour victories.
- Madeline Perry of Ireland, world number 4 and winner of this year’s CIMB Singapore Open.
- Australian Rachael Grinham, with 31 career titles and ranked number 6 in the world.
- Laura Massaro from England, WSA’s Player of the Year
for 2011, ranked at number 3 in the world and this year’s winner
at the Cleveland Classic and the US Open.
- France’s Camille Serme, ranked world number 10 and
the winner of her 6th WSA title at the World Tour Pyramids in Paris.
- Malaysia’s Low Wee Wern, a career-high world number 11 and the winner of this year’s China Open.
- Donna Urquhart from Australia, the winner of 6 career titles,
including this year’s Indian Challenger, ranked 14 in the world.
WSA Chairman and acting CEO, Ingrid Lofdahl-Bentzer, is relishing the
prospect of the world’s best women joining the men at the ATCO
PSA World Series Finals, making this tournament one of the year's most
prestigious events. A big ‘thank you’ must go to the title
sponsors and PSA, who have worked tirelessly to make the addition of a
women’s event possible.