Women’s game growing faster than ever before reveals boss Burden
The Women’s Squash Association (WSA) has revealed that their 2014 calendar will produce a 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 with tournaments spread over 23 nations.
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.
“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.”