Squash is working hard to claim what everyone in the sport believes is a rightful place in the 2016 Olympic Games - and another successful week with the ISS Canary Wharf Squash Classic can only enhance those hopes.
The $52,500 5-star PSA World Tour event, which takes place at the East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf, London, from March 23-27, is in its sixth year and now firmly established as one of the main tournaments on the World Tour.
Event co-promoter Peter Nicol, the former world champion who achieved two individual gold medals in the Commonwealth Games, is heavily involved in the sport’s Olympic bid as a Squash 2016 Ambassador.
"The ISS Canary Wharf Classic continues to showcase the sport at the highest level, and this year we are guaranteed a spectacular event, with eight of the world’s top ten players in action," said Nicol.
"It is wonderful to see the sport of squash uniting in such a powerful and positive way to support the Olympic bid, and the leading players are totally committed to the cause.
"The dedication and commitment they show to their sport matches the core Olympic values and we know that if squash were to be granted a place on the Olympic programme then every one of the leading players would want to take part to compete for a gold medal. It would be viewed as the highest accolade in the sport."
In a feast of entertainment for London squash fans, the Canary Wharf tournament follows the ATCO Super Series Finals, which concluded on Tuesday with Gregory Gaultier beating Thierry Lincou in an all-French final.
Both are among a star-studded draw at Canary Wharf, with Gaultier seeded two behind the mercurial Egyptian Amr Shabana, the three-times world champion from Cairo.
The top eight seeds in the 16-man tournament also include the top three English players, Nick Matthew; reigning Canary Wharf champion James Willstrop; and Peter Barker, plus Australian David Palmer and Shabana’s fellow countryman Wael El Hindi.
All three home-based players seem to have hit form at the right moment leading up the event. World No7 Willstrop, who has won the Canary Wharf title three times, put his injury and illness worries behind him as he won two of his three matches at The Queen's Club - including a first-day victory over world champion Ramy Ashour - and narrowly missed out on a place in the final despite gaining a second victory over Lincou.
Matthew, who is back up to world No5, has reached three consecutive Tour finals and is playing the best squash of his career after spending much of last year out of action with a shoulder injury.
London Limehouse resident Peter Barker, ranked 10 in the world, comes into the event fresh after winning the KL Open in Malaysia, beating fellow Londoner Adrian Grant in the final.
"Everyone connected to the event is drooling over the quality of the draw," enthused Nicol. "Shabana, Palmer and Lincou are all former world champions and we hope that the quality of the play, performed in such a magnificent venue as the East Wintergarden, will prove to the watching world that a squash competition would be an attractive and entertaining addition to the Olympic programme.
“I was delighted to host a Squash 2016 Press Conference during the PSA Super Series Finals at Queen’s Club, and, with two major squash tournaments taking place back-to-back in London, it is a real bonanza for squash fans in and around the capital, and an opportunity for the sport to showcase itself in the best possible light."
The ISS Canary Wharf Classic continues to be at the forefront of delivering high-quality TV and internet broadcasts. A two-part highlights package will be televised on Sky Sports, with the same programme broadcast all over the world on satellite TV sports channels as part of the PSA’s global distribution network.
Every match from the event is also being broadcast live on the internet thanks to a live web-streaming operation carried out by www.psalive.tv
