WSA Celebrates Record Growth by Howard Harding 18 September 2014
- With tournaments spread over 23 nations, the Women's Squash
Association (WSA) is celebrating a 2014 calendar which will produce
total prize fund of $1,600,000 - representing a 40% increase over the
previous year. The
Association, which elected a new board of directors in January and
appointed former Dutch champion Tommy Berden as acting Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) in April, boasts more than 240 members from 47 countries. Together
with a number of brand new events, the 2014 WSA World Tour - featuring
more than 70 tournaments - will be headlined by 13 top-tier events,
featuring the Tournament of Champions, Cleveland Classic, Windy City
Open, Texas Open, the US Open and Carol Weymuller Open in the USA; the
Malaysian Open and 2013 World Championship in Malaysia, and the British
Open, the Hong Kong Open, the China Open, the Macau Open and the 2014
World Championship. Among
significant breakthrough events are the Paderborn Open, the first men's
or women's Tour event in Germany for more than four years; the
Colombian Open, the first WSA event in Colombia since 2005, and the
biggest ever; the Open D'Italia, the first women's professional
tournament in Italy for more than 12 years; and the Lagos International
Classic, the first WSA event in Nigeria since 1998. "I
am delighted that the WSA is growing faster than ever before, in
particular as we are now taking our Tour to various new places around
the world," said Berden. "To
achieve a 40% growth in these tough economic times is a real testament
to the women's game and our gratitude goes out to the many promoters
around the world that have staged, or are still about to stage, a WSA
event this year. "These
are exciting times for our members," added the WSA CEO. "We expect the
WSA World Tour to grow significantly again in 2015 and will continue to
work hard to break the 2-million dollar barrier next year."
