9th Annual PSA Event Comes to Downtown Calgary

The PSA makes its way to downtown Calgary for the 9th annual Talisman Energy Bankers Hall Club Pro-Am January 19-24. Defending champion Arturo Salazar from Mexico is back to defend his title but is only seeded three in this very interesting main draw. Top seed is New Zealands Martin Knight who is fresh off winning in Vancouver last week and he will be hard pressed to duplicate that with the strong field in this event. Second seed is England’s Chris Simpson currently ranked #47 in the world. Players to watch include #4 seed Jan Koukal of the Czech Republic who seems to be having some better results recently and will no doubt want to improve on his loss here in the quarter finals last year when he was the top seed. Sitting at the number seven spot is Laurence Delasaux of England who has had a lot of success over the last few months playing events in Canada and it would not be a surprise to see him playing Sunday in the finals.

Canada is well represented in the main draw with Robin Clarke as the number five seed; David Phillips at number six seed; and local player Andrew Schnell as the wild card. Schnell is the current Canadian junior champion as well as current Scottish Junior Open winner and will have Salazar in his first round in what will be a very exciting match with the Calgary crowd on his side for sure!

Main draw players who have a qualifier in their first round will be nervously watching the qualifying survivors, as former world #38 and the 2005 champion here, Canada’s Matthew Giuffre will likely come through and some money will be on him to go all the way to Sundays final.

Qualifying rounds begin Tuesday night with four of Alberta’s top players going head to head with Graeme Schnell, Paul Tuffin, Grayson Witcher, and Bob Ballinger trying to advance to Wednesday’s second round play.

It should be a great week of squash in this always popular tournament. Its again a sold out affair in the amateur event play as 151 players from all over the province have entered with another 52 on the wait list to get in! 

About the Canadian Squash Circuit
The Canadian Squash Circuit is a national tour consisting of Men’s PSA and Women’s WISPA sanctioned events across Canada. Canadian players compete for points in the Canadian Squash Circuit standings, which culminate with a year end Grande Finale  between the highest point earners from the Men’s and Women’s Circuit. The Canadian Squash Circuit’s goals are to provide Canadian squash players with an opportunity to play at a high level of competition within Canada and to increase the level of awareness of squash in Canada.

The 2009/2010 Circuit will also feature stops in Vancouver BC, London ON, Ottawa ON, Saskatoon SK, Richmond BC, Edmonton AB, North Vancouver BC, Calgary AB, Halifax NS, Niagara on the Lake, ON, Gatineau QC, Montréal QC and Winnipeg MB. For more information please visit http://www.squash.ca/e/can_circuit/index.cfm.