UPDC Hotels/Golden Tulip Squash Goes International

Due to the phenomenal success achieved in the maiden edition of UPDC Hotels/Golden Tulip Squash Series, which rounded off last weekend, the tournament will go international and will become a world ranking event next year, organisers have hinted.

Chairman, UPDC Nigeria Plc, Larry E. Ettah, who disclosed this exclusively to HotSports at the tournament, said they were satisfied with what they saw and hope to make it an annual affair with next edition going to be an international event.

The UPDC Nigeria plc boss, who also represented O’Trafford Club as a player at the Series, said the facility in use at the competition is one of the few Professional Squash Association (PSA) certified facilities in Nigeria, which is why they want to raise the standard to international.

“Our intention is to expose this world class facility to the cross-section of Squash fraternity and community because most of the facilities we have in this country don’t meet this standard,” he told HotSports.

“If we don’t have our young men and women playing on this kind of world standard facility, they will go out there complaining like our footballers, who find playing turfs strange outside Nigeria because they are not used to them.

“From what we have seen so far, we are pleasantly encouraged to continue what we have started.  It is already a national affair, but by next year we should make it an international event in which case, it will be a PSA certified and ranking event.   This means that players from all over the world could come here to play and increase their rankings.”

In the two main events in the first edition, Goke Adediran won the ‘Club Invitational tournament’, while Abdulrahaman Olanrewaju and Yemisi Olatunji emerged best in the Professional Men and Women categories respectively.