Qualifiers under way as Skype dial up a deal with World Championship
By NATHAN CLARKE
Global communications platform Skype has been unveiled as the latest official partner of the forthcoming 2015 Men’s Squash World Championship to take place in Seattle.
The tournament takes place in Bellevue, Washington from November 15-22. The exclusive partnership will see Skype play a leading role in ensuring the 2015 World Championship is the most interactive squash tournament of all time with brand new initiatives such as fan chats planned for the first World Championship to be staged in the United States.
“We’re extremely pleased to announce that Skype will become the leading partner of the 2015 Men’s World Squash Championship,” said tournament promoter Shabana Khan, CEO of YSKevents.
“Skype is a globally recognised brand that will bring a wealth of expertise and ideas to the tournament in what it is a landmark deal in the history of the Men’s Squash World Championship.We look forward to working closely with our partners at Skype and the Professional Squash Association (PSA) over the coming weeks ahead of what promises to be an enthralling week of action.”
Skype’s Mike Melazzo, Director Partnership Marketing said: “We are excited to be working with the 2015 Men’s PSA World Squash Championships.
“Squash is an expanding global sport. We look forward to being able to use Skype’s range of features to make this the most connected Men’s Squash World Championships to date and enabling fans from all over the world to interact with the tournament like never before. Skype users will also have the unique opportunity to ask questions to the players by simply using the Skype ID ‘PSAWorldTour’.”
The 2015 Men’s World Squash Championships takes place from November 15-22 at the Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue and coverage from the event will be shown in its entirety on SQUASHTV.
WORLDS UPDATE: Huang on the brink of history
Taiwan’s James Huang is one win away from making history and becoming the first Taiwanese squash player ever to compete in the main draw of the sport’s most prestigious competition, after reaching the final round of qualifiying at the 2015 Men’s World Squash Championship in Bellevue, Washington.
Huang defeated South Africa’s Clinton Leeuw 3-0 to set up a final round match-up with former top ten ranked player Laurens Jan Anjema, the Dutchman who is looking to breathe new life back into his career at the Worlds after a troublesome 18-months has seen his world ranking plummet.
Elsewhere in round one Christopher Gordon, Todd Harrity and Chris Hanson will be hoping to give home fans something to celebrate as the US trio bid to make it into the main draw in what is the first ever Men’s World Championship to take place in the United States.
2015 Men’s World Championship, Bellevue, Washington:
1st qualifying round:
Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bye
James Huang (TPE) bt Clinton Leeuw (RSA) 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 (34m)
Lance Beddoes (NZL) bt Joel Hinds (ENG) 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 15-13 (60m)
Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt Robertino Pezzota (ARG) w/o
Christopher Gordon (USA) bt Nicolas Talbott (USA) 11-4, 11-5, 11-9 (25m)
Peter Creed (WAL) bt Shahjahan Khan (PAK) 11-5, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7 (61m)
Nathan Lake (ENG) bt Chris van der Salm (NZL) 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8 (49m)
Henrik Mustonen (FIN) bt Ben Grindrod (NZL) 11-5, 11-5, 11-9 (24m)
Shawn Delierre (CAN) bt Babatunde Ajagbe (NGR) 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 (32m)
Shehab Essam (EGY) bt Manoel Pereira (BRA) 11-5, 11-6, 11-9 (36m)
George Parker (ENG) bt Ahmed Hassan (ZIM) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (21m)
Farhan Zaman (PAK) bt Sam Gould (USA) 11-2, 11-4, 11-7 (22m)
Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-8, 11-7, 15-13 (44m)
Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt Ramit Tandon (IND) 11-7, 7-11, 11-2, 11-9 (53m)
Karim El Hammamy (EGY) bt Elliot Selby (ENG) 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 (34m)
Rex Hedrick (AUS) bye
Joe Lee (ENG) bye
Reiko Peter (SUI) bt Charlie Johnson (ENG) 10-12, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 (49m)
Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) bt Supreet Singh (IND) 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 (31m)
Todd Harrity (USA) bt Basem Makram (EGY) 11-2, 11-9, 11-3 (34m)
Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) bt Sharif Khan (USA) 13-11, 11-7, 11-7 (24m)
Carlos Cornes Ribadas (ESP) bt Amaad Fareed (PAK) 11-7, 11-5, 14-12 (37m)
Thoboki Mohohlo (RSA) bt Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8 (47m)
Mohamed Reda (EGY) bt Karim Abouhassan (KUW) w/o
Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt Faraz Khan (USA) 11-4, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6 (47m)
Chris Hanson (USA) bt Adam Perkiomaki (USA) 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 (30m)
Shahier Razik (CAN) bt Matias Tuomi (FIN) 11-8, 11-5, 11-2 (32m)
Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) bt Jan van den Herrewegen (BEL) 7-11, 11-4, 11-3, 11-7 (47m)
Ben Coleman (ENG) bt Mike Lewis (USA) 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 (24m)
Evan Williams (NZL) bt Andrew Schnell (CAN) 8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 13-11 (50m)
Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) bt Salim Khan (USA) 11-5, 11-5, 13-11 (23m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bye
Picture by KIM ROBERTS