All posts by Alan Thatcher

Mohamed ElShorbagy stops Superman Paul Coll to reach first post-lockdown final By ALAN THATCHER and SEAN REUTHE World number one Mohamed ElShorbagy finished strongly to win an 84-minute thriller against Paul Coll to book a place in the final of the 2020 Manchester Open against fellow Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad. World No.3 Gawad beat ElShorbagy’s [...]

Momen and Farag fall as Coll and Marwan move into Manchester semi-finals By ALAN THATCHER and SEAN REUTHE Ali Farag and Tarek Momen tumbled out of the Manchester Open as Marwan ElShorbagy and Paul Coll upset the seedings in squash’s first major tournament since the Coronavirus lockdown. No.2 seed Farag fell to Marwan ElShorbagy in [...]

On this day … how World Squash Day was born By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor The world changed on this day in 2001 when two passenger planes were hijacked by terrorists and flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Many New York-based squash players were killed in the [...]

Rod Bannister interview: “We must change the stodgy way this game has been run and make it cool, funky, and easy to access” Interview by ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Rod Bannister had just 24 hours to sell his property, pack his bags and move his family from Gold Coast back home to New [...]

Men’s world top ten turns out to relaunch PSA World Tour in Manchester Open By ALAN THATCHER and ELLIE MAWSON  The PSA World Tour will make a long-awaited return when the world’s top players line up at the Manchester Open from September 16-22 as the six-month suspension of professional squash due to the global Covid-19 [...]

No Mo as World Tour Finals line-up is confirmed By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Egyptian stars Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini will be the top seeds when Cairo’s Mall of Arabia hosts the 2019-20 CIB PSA World Tour Finals from September 28-October 3. The Mall stages this glorious squash showpiece starring the [...]

Egypt to host 2021 World Juniors and 2022 Women’s World Team Champs By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor As the squash calendar makes tentative steps to fill in dates, three major tournaments have been confirmed for Egypt in 2021 and 2022. The World Squash Federation Board today announced that Egypt will host the 2021 [...]

Nathan Clarke’s Behind The Glass book to raise funds for PSA Foundation We Are One campaign By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor PSA media man Nathan Clarke has been busy during the lockdown producing a glorious book of photographs to raise money for professional players who are suffering financial hardship. Nathan,  Content and Features [...]

PSA World Tour gains momentum after six months of lockdown By ALAN THATCHER and ELLIE MAWSON The PSA World Tour is gathering momentum as professional players prepare for a return to work following the six-month lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. As well as three events already scheduled for September and October, one in Manchester [...]

WSF hope to reschedule Women’s World Teams but BJO is cancelled By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor The 2020 WSF World Women’s Team Championships and the 2021 British Junior Open are the latest casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic. The BJO has been cancelled but the WSF and the Malaysian SRA hope to reschedule the [...]

World Squash Day: 50 days to go until squash takes to the streets! By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Today marks a major milestone in the countdown to World Squash Day 2020 – with just 50 days to go to the big event. Squash takes to the streets on Saturday October 10th as part [...]

Help our health heroes and win i-Mask prizes in World Squash Day selfie competition By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Squash players can win selfie prizes and support their local health heroes thanks to a partnership agreement between World Squash Day and i-Mask. Richard Millman and Simon Stanbridge, owners and distributors of the i-Mask, [...]

Squash has lessons to learn as pickleball picks up some big numbers By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor Pickleball is a new racket sport. Many squash players dismiss it, because the name sounds silly. However, boasting more than three million players in the USA, it is a rapidly growing activity that deserves closer attention. [...]

PSA World Tour returns with action in Manchester and Egypt By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor The PSA World Tour resumes in September with the Manchester Open signalling the return to competitive play for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown began in March. The first events to appear since the shutdown will be [...]

Sports lawyer Rowena Samarasinhe joins PSA Board By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor London-based commercial sports lawyer Rowena Samarasinhe, based in London, has joined the PSA’s Board of Directors. Samarasinhe has well over a decade of dedicated experience in the sports industry and is currently the Managing Director of GENSport Limited as well as [...]