Nimes World Championship To Introduce Three Glass Show Courts
24 Jul 2012
In a unique development for world squash, action in the 2012 WSF Women's World Team Championship in France in November will take place on three new state-of-the-art all-glass show courts.
The exciting initiative by the Fédération Française de Squash will ensure that, for the first time in the event's 33-year history, all the teams participating in the event should experience the opportunity of playing on ASB-manufactured all-glass courts.
In previous world team championships, most of the action has taken place on club courts, with only a few teams playing on a single four-glass-walled court leading up to its use for the event's final rounds.
The 2012 Women's World Team Championship will be staged in France for the first time - at the La Parnasse Arena and the eight-court Squash Des Costieres Club, in Nimes, from 12-17 November.
On the completion of the championship, the all-glass courts will be dismantled and re-erected in the country's three national training centres - one in Creteil in Paris, one in Aix-en-Provence and the third in Le Mans.
"Our investment in three ASB all-glass show courts is a major initiative for the Federation - not just to use in two world championships in France, which we are very proud to host, but also for the long-term to use in our three national training centres," said FFS President Jacques Fontaine. "Both the Women's World Teams in Nimes, then next year the Men's World Team Championship in Mulhouse, will provide major promotional opportunities for squash in our country.
"But the fact that the courts can be used in different locations is one of the key attributes of moveable, all-glass show courts like these," Fontaine added. "Thus the initial investment in two world championships will provide a legacy which will give a major boost to the development of the sport in the future."
N Ramachandran, President of the World Squash Federation, said: "This will be a landmark championship. Three state-of-art show courts, so that spectators and broadcast have an even greater opportunity to revel in the atmosphere and competitiveness of our Women's World Team Championship, mean that November in Nimes will be very special."
Official event website: www.worldwomensquash-nimes2012.fr