WISPA Tour Inspires China With Vision To Hold World's Biggest Event

WORLD SQUASH NEWS

WISPA Tour Inspires China With Vision To Hold World's Biggest Event

The visit to Beijing, the second leg of the promotional tour to China organised jointly by the Women's International Squash Players' Association and the China Squash Association, has inspired the CSA to aim ultimately at staging the world's biggest event.

Following the stage in Shanghai, top world squash players Rachael Grinham and Nicol David again impressed a host of players, officials and media in China's capital city over three days, visiting four different clubs.

The 2004 tour to China is the latest initiative in WISPA's continuing drive to promote women's squash around the world. Led by Australia's Rachael Grinham, the world No2, and Asian No1 Nicol David, the world No8 from Malaysia; featured clinics, exhibition matches and coaching sessions.

The party was welcomed by delegates from the CSA, including Vice President Wang Li Wei, Secretary General Peng Ning, and the day-to-day driving force behind the organisation Deng Li, the Deputy Secretary General.

The CSA was formed in 1999, following a visit to the country by Susie Simcock and Prasad Pillai, representing the World Squash Federation (WSF) and Asian Squash Federation (ASF), respectively. The administration of all sports in China is the responsibility of the Chinese Sports Commission, with priority given to Olympic sports. Whilst Olympic sports are funded by the CSC, others are expected to seek funding from commercial sources.

Formerly managing the Olympic sport of handball, Mr Deng saw the potential of squash in China and moved to the CSA less than a year ago. His visit to last December's Women's World Open in Hong Kong, where he saw elite squash for the first time, led to a further meeting with WISPA Executive Director Andrew Shelley, following discussions at the WSF AGM two months earlier, and plans for this tour took shape.

One of Deng's first initiatives was a National Conference in March, which attracted 80 delegates with interest in the sport's development in China. The number of courts in mainland China is still unclear, though it is thought to be more than 400, with Beijing and Shanghai perhaps having almost half this number.

One of the CSA's leading initiatives is the launch of a magazine "Squash" which is a joint venture with publishers "Velocity Sports". The new title, just launched, will be produced quarterly and will be sent to all CSA members and squash facilities all over the country. Featured on the cover of the launch issue is Franco Amadei, the Chairman and CEO of Fiat China, who has been a passionate supporter of squash since arriving in China from Rome 15 years ago. He and his Chinese wife Luna, the No1 woman player in Beijing, have vowed to do whatever it takes to help the CSA get squash off the ground in the country.

Rachael and Nicol continued to spar with local enthusiasts eager to challenge such notable world squash stars - and always came out on top. Some 100 players in Beijing participate in a sophisticated ladder scheme - largely initiated by Franco Amadei - in which challenges are played out over a number of facilities in the city and the ratings updated weekly.

Chow Lap Ming, originally from Hong Kong, is the much-revered No1 on this list and prompted a packed gallery at the Capital Club when he took on Rachael for a best-of-three encounter. Much to the delight of his fans who have rarely seen him lose, Rachael swept to a straightforward 2-0 victory and posed for the cameras afterwards as if slaying her vanquished opponent!

"That was a great game - I've never played a world No2 before," said the local hero afterwards. "It was what I expected, but she just played too well in all areas."

Earlier, the party visited the massive Qing Zhi Yuan apartment complex which features two glass-backed McWil courts. A packed press conference attracted Beijing and Central TV and a host of journalists and photographers.

The club also boasts China's first qualified coach, Liu Bin, who is proud of the fact that he gained his Level 2 qualification at the Australian Institute of Squash in Brisbane at the same time as former world No1 Michelle Martin.

"This visit has been a milestone in Chinese squash," said Liu Bin later. "We will look back on it in years to come and realise it was a turning point in the development of the sport in our country - and I am sure next November's WISPA event in Shanghai will have a similar effect."

The Olympic Garden includes a sports centre developed by the Chinese Sports Commission and boasts an array of features that would be the envy of most sports centres. Around 18,000 live in the apartment development that the centre services. In front of another large and enthusiastic crowd, the girls started with an exhibition before a variety of local players became heroic failures against the WISPA players.

Chauncey Ma, his wife Ruby and daughter Jasmine are residents of the development, and all now play: "We started when we moved in two months ago. Mr Lui gave us an introduction and we now play every Friday".

The clinic at the Beijing Olympic Centre attracted an appearance by Karen Li, editor of China National Radio and a part-time player herself. Miss Li conducted a lengthy interview with Grinham and Shelley which will be featured a sports programme to be aired to households all over the vast country later in the month.

The media interest in the WISPA Tour has been impressive, and national press and TV have already aired news of the squash development and the historic forthcoming event in Shanghai. Vic Flores, the Director of WISPA's television programming who has been present on the tour for the first time, sees it as a significant breakthrough.

"It's been absolutely fantastic. The agreement we have struck with CCTV, starting with the Shanghai event in November, means that we will achieve a five-fold increase in the television audiences for WISPA. This will take WISPA's potential TV audience to around 1.5 billion, which is more than has ever been achieved for squash before."

In addition to their promotion of squash, the WISPA party were also able to enjoy Beijing's most famous tourist attractions. Visits to Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall, were memorable in every way.

As the week-long tour to mainland China drew to a close, Deng Li was delighted with its achievements: "We had been looking forward to, and preparing for, this visit from the moment it was first conceived. We are indebted to Karl Mak of LeisurePro whose help in liaising between us and WISPA has been invaluable. We had two objectives: to learn from the two women players Rachael and Nicol, and to find out how to run promotional activities for squash from a major international organisation such as WISPA.

"The visit gave our local players a unique opportunity to play with top players - to really get a feel for top-level squash," said the CSA Executive.

"At the same time, it gave a world body such as WISPA the chance to see the where we are in squash, and give us some assistance.

"It was a most beneficial experience for our local players, all of whom wished that Rachael and Nicol could have stayed longer so that they could have spent more time with them. Now they realise what a long way they have to go - there being such a gulf between their standard and that of the girls.

"From the CSA's point of view, we hope this visit will not be a one-off so that other outside bodies can help us improve the popularity of squash. CSA may currently be a small association, but we have all the confidence of becoming as successful as others around the world.

"Media exposure is also very important to us and our new magazine will be an important tool to expose squash to local communities.

"We are seeking every opportunity to develop this success here, to build on the one event in Shanghai in November to other events in other parts of China. Indeed our ultimate aim in the future will be to stage the biggest ever event in the sport here in China," Deng concluded.

Rachael Grinham had no idea what to expect on her first visit to China, and her first participation in a WISPA Promotional Tour: "The welcome and hospitality we've received here has been awesome - and it's great to have had the opportunity to come to a country like China and help in their promotion of squash," said the 27-year-old British Open champion from Queensland. "There's clearly enormous potential for squash here in China, and Nicol and I can't wait to come back for our event in Shanghai later in the year."

The Tour continues in Nepal at the weekend.