 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.
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