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Squash in Saudi Arabia
by Shaun Moxham

 

Ziad Al Turki
 

A future World Champion ?
  

  

  

  

The hospitality shown by
everyone was overwhelming


Recently David Palmer and I were invited to Saudi Arabia by Ziad Al Turki, who introduced himself to the international squash community by organizing the Saudi International squash tournament in Al Khobar last December.



The purpose of our visit was to promote the game, assess talent and give some advice and information to aspiring players and existing coaches.

The first thing which struck us was the motivation of all the players and coaches and this no doubt stems from the initiative taken by Ziad last December to show case our wonderful game by organizing a PSA Super Series Platinum event.

No doubt the amazing talents which were on display at that tournament has had its effect on the local squash players as the number of people from all ages interested and playing the game was staggering.



On top of that the hospitality of the people was tremendous, both David and myself have travelled to most countries in the world with squash and what we experienced in Saudi was right up there with the best.

Of course for a country such as Saudi Arabia to develop and prosper in national and international squash a tremendous amount of work will need to be done. Structures will need to be set into place for both player and coach development but with people such as Ziad Al Turki committed to supporting the game I’m sure that the future looks bright indeed.

As in most countries soccer is the most popular sport however unlike countries such as America squash is not competing against hundreds of other sports so with a lot of hard work and some success on the playing field it has a chance to make a real impression into the Saudi Arabian society, and once this occurs then the sport has a real chance of growing into another national resource.



I look forward to the long term squash future in Saudi Arabia and in the short term once again the Saudi International PSA Super Series Platinum event will be a show case and a huge motivation for the aspiring Saudi squash players of the future.


One of the many motivated groups who came to experience the training techniques
of the current World Champion, David Palmer

 

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