Egypt To Host 2014 Women's World Championship by Howard Harding 29 October 2014
- The 2014 Women's World Squash Championship will take place in Egypt
in December following an agreement reached this week between the
Women's Squash Association and Wadi Degla Holding. Offering
a USD $150,000 prize-fund, the 2014 championship will be hosted by the
Wadi Degla club in Cairo from 15-20 December, following three days' of
qualifying. The
30th edition of the premier tournament on the WSA World Tour will be
staged in Egypt for only the second time since the inaugural event in
1979. Boasting
48 courts, Wadi Degla is the biggest chain of squash clubs in Egypt -
and one of the biggest groups of sporting clubs in the world, with a
combined membership worldwide in excess of 500,000. The Wadi Degla
Maadi branch is also the training base of world No3 Raneem El Welily. "Wadi
Degla is pleased to host the world's most prestigious women's squash
event," said the company's Sports Director Karim Darwish, the world
No10 and a former world number one. "Credit goes to Eng Maged Samy, who
encouraged and fully supported the idea, despite the very short notice. "Wadi
Degla squash team is the national champion for the season 2013/2014,
and the home club of local star Raneem El Welily, the world No3. So
squash is definitely a major sport in the Wadi Degla sports community,
and hosting this event will surely give Egyptian Squash a great push
towards a whole new level." WSA
CEO Tommy Berden added: "We are delighted to take the Women's World
Championship to Egypt in December. Squash is one of the most popular
sports in Egypt and there a lot of young Egyptian players coming up
rapidly, so it will be great to see them in action on home soil. "We
are very grateful to Wadi Degla's chairman Maged Samy and the sports
director Karim Darwish for making this event happen at their impressive
facilities, and we look forward to working with them to make the
championship a stunning success." Laura
Massaro, who at the 2013 championship in Malaysia in March became the
first Englishwoman for 15 years to win the world crown, will face stiff
opposition in her title defence later this year from a host of players
- not only from El Welily and eight other home players in the current
world top 50, but also from Nicol David, the world number one from
Malaysia who will be bidding to win a record eighth title. The
Women's World Championship title is owned by the World Squash
Federation (WSF) and managed by the Women's Squash Association.
