WISPA Goes To Vietnam

After the announcement earlier this week that the first WISPA Premiere Series squash event for 2008 will be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in January, the Women's International Squash Players' Association has followed up by taking the WISPA World Tour to Hanoi in March where the WISPA Vietnam Open will be staged at the Hanoi Country Club.

The two courts at the Hanoi Country Club are having their floors renovated in time to welcome overseas players. While competing in the Vietnamese capital, the WISPA players will play with local enthusiasts as well as introducing media to squash.

"WISPA have again secured prize money centrally and this developmental event really does embody what the Premiere Series is all about," commented WISPA Chief Executive Andrew Shelley.

"Squash is so embryonic in Vietnam that there is no national squash federation, and so we are hoping to encourage its initiation to add to the Asian Squash Federation membership while we are building the event to focus attention onto our sport."

The WISPA Premiere Series was launched with the Icelandair Group Classic in the Icelandic capital city of Reykjavik in September. This was followed by the Colombo Open in Lisbon, Portugal, in October and by the Iran Open in the north western Iranian city of Rasht in November.