World Squash Day to be Celebrated Next Month
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

LONDON (UK): The fourth annual World Squash Day will be celebrated on November 3rd when every squash club on the planet is encouraged to open its doors to promote the sport.

Christian Leighton, Chief Executive of the World Squash Federation, in a statement has urged every national association to back the scheme to raise the profile of the sport as it continues its bid for a place in the Olympic Games.

“World Squash Day is a very simple but powerful concept,” explained Leighton.

“We want every single squash club to join in with a day of fun activity, to attract new people to the game and get the media involved to tell the world what a fantastic sport we have.

“This is a great opportunity for squash clubs to increase their membership lists as a result of supporting World Squash Day.”

He said Squash was recently named the number one healthiest sport by the influential Forbes magazine in America. “What better reason could there be for youngsters to take up the sport and fight the menace of childhood obesity?” added Leighton.

World Squash Day was founded following the death of former Scottish junior international Derek Sword during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center in 2001.

A group of friends, including ex-world champion Peter Nicol, a former Scotland junior international team-mate, got together to discuss ideas to honour Derek’s memory and provide something tangible for the sport.

Part of the WSD programme is an annual match between New York and Great Britain for the Derek Sword Trophy, a magnificent silver rose bowl donated by Derek’s employers KBW, a financial company operating in the Twin Towers.●