Over 180 players will converge on the squash court of Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, to compete in the maiden edition of the John Hett Sports Foundation (JHSF) squash championship from Oct. 25 to 28.
The Chairman of Yellow Dot Squash Association, Sola Adekunle, said this at a press conference on Monday.
The tournament is sanctioned by the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and the World Squash Federation (WSF).
Adekunle said for the first time, both female and male participants will go home with the same prize money: N400,000 for the overall winner, N200,000 for second position and N120,000 for the third and fourth placed winners in both male and female categories.
He added that players who qualified for the Quarter Final stage in both categories get N70,000; Round of 16, N30,000 and Round of 32, N20,000 each.
“This is the first tournament that will endeavour to bridge the gap between between male and female prize money. For the first time both male and female winners will receive same prize money.
“I’d like to commend the JHSF group for putting this together for the players; given the players’ exploits in Namibia, it’s evident enough that we have players of world standards,” he said.
Adekunle said the tournament would be played in a round robin format, which would give players ample time to play competitively.
Wasiu Bello, president, Professional Squash Players Association of Nigeria (PSPAN), who also doubles as the Technical Director of the tournament, said the JHSF squash championship had come to stay.
“This is one tournament that is particularly concerned about the players, unlike other tournaments where mostly the top three are the ones entitled to prize money, this time around for every qualifying round there’s a prize money no matter how little.
“It’s an open tournament, so it doesn’t matter the age of a player. As PSPAN’s president, it is important that we expose our players to PSA and WSF approved tournaments to improve their world ranking.
“We’re grateful to all our sponsors and stakeholders for relentlessly promoting squash,” he said.
Similarly, Seun Peters, the pioneer president of PSPAN, urged the players to be of good conduct in order to be great sport men and women of repute.
“Being a skillful player is not the only hallmark of a great player but being of good conduct on the squash court. Squash is now at the Olympics, so we have to ensure that we conduct ourselves better in terms of professionalism.
“I wish the players injury-free tournament and I look forward to seeing a display of classic squash,” he said.
The number one ranked male player, Onaopemipo Adegoke, said he was looking forward to an exciting tournament, “I know this will be a good tournament and I look forward to giving it my all as always.”
Unfortunately the number two ranked female player, Busayo Olatunji, said she won’t be available for the tournament due to personal reasons.
“I need time to take care of myself, I know it will be a great tournament so I’d be cheering them on; may the best man and woman win,” she said.