(updated 10-mar-09 21:05 )  

Squash Purses Buck World Economic Trends

Following an upward trend in professional squash purses in both Men's and Women's events - which keep squash on a contrarian growth path, while much of the world's economy and many professional sports tours are in retrenchment - The Netherlands will host the Squash Men's and Women's World Opens in 2011 at record setting purse levels.

This accomplishment can be traced directly to the entrepreneurial, creative, energetic and likeable Tommy Berden, retired professional squash player, Holland tournament promoter, and husband of WISPA pro Natalie Grinham.

Netherlands To Host World’s Richest Squash Championships

An agreement has been concluded between the Professional Squash Association and NextSquash which will result in the world's richest Squash event being staged in the Netherlands in 2011.

The 2011 Men's World Open, the leading championship on the PSA Tour, will boast a prize fund of $277,500.  Coupled with the 2011 Women's World Open, the combined prize fund will be in excess of $400,000.  

PSA CEO Alex Gough stated: "The World Open is our most prestigious event and we are delighted that Tommy Berden and his team put forward such a strong tender for holding the event in 2011. 

"To have already placed such an important event as the World Open for the next three years shows how vibrant the PSA World Tour is at the moment.  A large part of the decision was based around the fact that we will be combining both men's and women's events again.  Manchester, in 2008, was such an enormous success and I know that Tommy will be looking to emulate that."

Tommy Berden, of NextSquash, added:  "We are delighted to have secured the rights from PSA to host the Men’s World Open 2011 in the Netherlands.  In particular, because we already hold the rights to the Women’s World Open in 2011, which gives us the opportunity to integrate the two most prestigious squash events in the world into one major championship - something which proved a great success in Manchester last year.

"These are exciting times for Squash in the Netherlands and, whilst it is still three years away, we are already looking forward to welcoming the best squash players on this planet to our country."

Preparations are already underway for the 2009 Men's World Open in Kuwait, followed by the 2010 World Open in Saudi Arabia.

 

 

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