Matthew, Willstrop, Elshorbagy & Shabana To Clash in Nimick's 4th Annual 'Showdown at Symphony' by Colleen Turner BOSTON – August 12, 2013
– England and Egypt clash again for the World Champions Challenge
title at Boston’s venerable Symphony Hall. On the eve of the
International Olympic Committee vote on adding squash to the 2020
Olympics, four top-ten, world ranked players will take to the stage at
Boston Symphony Hall on Saturday, September 7, 2013 for “Showdown @
Symphony IV.” National honors are on the line as John Nimick and
Squash Engine, Inc., bring an extraordinary evening of world-class
squash featuring star players from England and Egypt. “Showdown at
Symphony,” presented by First Republic Bank, a leading provider of
private banking and wealth management services, pits reigning 2013
World Champions England against arch rival Egypt. The nations
have dominated international squash for the last decade with England
winning three of the last five biennial World Team Championships to
Egypt’s two. The stars of England’s current World Championship
team Nick Matthew and James Willstrop, World No. 3 & 4
respectively, will represent England, while Egypt will field squash
phenom Mohamed Elshorbagy (World No. 6) and four-time World Champion
Amr Shabana (World No. 8). Neither star player represented Egypt
in their recent loss to England in Mulhouse, France in the final of the
WSF World Team Championship. Tickets and Sponsorship: information
and sales at www.squashshowdown.com. John Nimick, founder
of Squash Engine and producer of the squash world’s iconic Tournament
of Champions held in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, explains,
“In 2011, Egypt’s Ramy Ashour and Amr Shabana bested England’s Nick
Matthew and James Willstrop for our first World Champions Team
Challenge title here in Boston. This year’s Showdown gets even
more interesting as the two stars Egypt elected to leave off its roster
back in May get a clean shot at teaming up to take out the heart of
Team England. I can’t help but think that Showdown is the perfect
opportunity for Amr and Mohammed to try to even the score.” Collectively, these
stars of squash own 72 PSA World Tour titles. Now the youngest
player in the PSA top 20, Mohamed Elshorbagy, 22, is officially a PSA
world ranked multi-tasker, successfully combining college and
competition. He has consistently ranked in the top ten month
after month the past two plus years. 2011 was his breakout year
on the PSA Tour, with title triumphs at the Motor City Open in Detroit,
the Internationaux de la Reunion in Reunion Island, the Colombian Open
in Bogota and the Macau Open in Macau. However, his ultimate
performance to date was in a narrow five game loss to compatriot Ramy
Ashour in the final of the 2012 Men’s World Championship. His is
a youthful, exhuberant style of play that is both bold and
effective. Count on him to go for and get attacking shots in all
corners, rarely playing it safe. His compatriot, Amr
Shabana, the wizened competitor of the group at aged 34, has just
entered his 19th year on the PSA World Tour. After becoming the
first Egyptian to top the Dunlop PSA Men's World Rankings in April
2006, Amr Shabana went on to hold the position for 33 consecutive
months - confirming his status as the fifth longest-standing world
number one of all-time, behind Pakistanis Jansher Khan and Jahangir
Khan, Englishman Peter Nicol and Australian Geoff Hunt. Despite
two years of injury, Amr continues to show great strength and
perseverance, still maintaining a solid presence in the top ten world
rankings. Representing England
in this year’s challenge are the world’s current number 3 and 4 ranked
players, Nick Matthew and James Willstrop, both also recent world no.
1s. 2012 was a good year for Matthew. He won a fourth
British National title in May and became the first Englishman ever to
win the British Open title for a third time. In September 2012, Matthew
marked another milestone when he reached the 50th PSA Tour final of his
career at the British Grand Prix in Manchester – and celebrated his
25th Tour title win after beating national rival James Willstrop.
A 14-year veteran of the Tour, Nick has battled back from serious
injuries to achieve his present ranking and personifies the ideal
balance of competitiveness and congeniality. James Willstrop,
England’s most successful junior player of all time, fulfilled his
spectacular promise as a PSA World Tour player by attaining the coveted
world number one ranking in January 2012 after a sensational
three-tournament victory run at the end of 2011. Ankle surgery in
2009 might have easily signaled the end of his career, but the
dedicated Brit battled through that year’s British Open before falling
to Nick Matthew in the fifth game of the finals. 2013 began with
Willstrop slipping to number four in the world rankings, but together
with Nick Matthew both are sure to present a formidable challenge to
the Egyptian team.
Nimick shares, “This
year’s Champions Challenge format ensures an action-packed experience
as the four challengers battle it out in fast paced matches featuring
shortened game scoring and shootout tiebreakers.” All players
will compete twice in matches to two games with the winner of the first
game having the choice of selecting either a one- or three-point
tiebreaker, if the match is knotted 1-1. The Davis Cup-style
competition features singles and reverse singles. All competition takes
place on a portable, self-contained glass court. An
additional two feet of decking is added to raise the all-glass show
court off the flat floor of Symphony Hall, lending more of a “stage”
feel to the event. Four-seat Pops tables surround the court and
floor guests enjoy a fabulous complimentary menu to further enhance the
evening.
Showdown IV is
presented by First Republic Bank and supported by Brown Brothers
Harriman, Dover Rug & Home, Dunlop, Joslin Diabetes Center,
Lexington Partners, MA Squash and MFS Investments. The official charity
is SquashBusters (www.squashbusters.org), an after school enrichment
program that teaches sport, academics and life skills to Boston’s inner
city youth. Founded in 1985, First
Republic Bank and its affiliated companies provide private banking,
private business banking and private wealth management, including
investment, trust and brokerage services. First Republic specializes in
delivering exceptional, relationship-based service through preferred
banking and wealth management offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los
Angeles, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach, San Diego, Portland, Boston,
Greenwich and New York City. More information is available on the
Bank’s website at http://www.firstrepublic.com. For tickets and information, please visit www.squashshowdown.com. Sponsorship, Patron and Group packages are also available.
