US Squash has informed the World Squash
Federation (WSF) today that it will withdraw from the 2015 World Men’s
Team Championship scheduled to begin December 12 in Cairo, Egypt.
Notice was provided in a letter from England Squash noting that the
U.S. as well as defending champions England, along with Canada, Germany
and France would all withdraw due to security concerns. In the letter,
WSF was urged to re-schedule and re-locate the event.
Originally planned for Kuwait, the event
was quickly relocated to Egypt several weeks ago after the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the Kuwait national
Olympic committee for the second time in five years. The WSF in turn
suspended the Kuwait Squash Federation, and sought a new host for the
upcoming event.
Only days after the announcement to
relocate to Egypt, the Russian commercial jet departing Sharm el-Sheikh
was bombed, and soon after, the terrorist attacks in Beirut, Paris and
Bamako, Mali took place. Last week, the U.S. State Department issued an
unusual worldwide travel alert for U.S. citizens through February 2016
due to possible risks and increased terrorist threats.
In reaching out directly to the Egyptian
Squash Association regarding withdrawing the U.S. team, US Squash
President and CEO Kevin Klipstein wrote, “We understand the
considerable work and preparation involved in hosting this event, and
had no intent on creating an inconvenience in any way…Given [the State
Department’s] advisory and our general concern for the safely and
well-being of the team, we made this difficult decision to withdraw.”
Earlier this year, WSF re-located the 2015
World Junior Championships from Egypt to Holland due to travel concerns
expressed by many of the participating countries.
