World Junior Championships relocated to Qatar due to lack of security in Egypt – Squash News
The conditions in Egypt are not sporting friendly at the moment due to massive anarchy witnessed recently, hence, it has been decided that the 2012 WSF Men’s & Women’s World Junior Individual and 2012 Men’s Junior Team Squash Championships
will be shifted to Qatar. The events were originally scheduled to be contested in Cairo, however, given recent political unrest, they have been relocated to Doha to be contested from July 7-18, 2012.
Tournament President, Nabeel Ali Bin Ali, said “When we were informed that the WSF could not continue in Egypt we moved quickly to ensure that there could be certainty for the event. Juniors are our future and it is a great opportunity
for us to support them in addition to the professional end of the sport as we do with the Qatar Classic and Challenger events.”
Andrew Shelley, Chief Executive of WSF also expressed his concern over Egypt’s conditions and talked to media representatives about the location shift, he proclaimed that, “We are very sad not to be able to return to Cairo, as
we had hoped, as we know that the Egyptian Squash Federation would provide a welcome and a staging that would be second to none”.
He further added that if conditions did turn around in coming years, officials would reconsider their options and would definitely return to Cairo, if feasible. Personally he was fond of contesting the tournament at Egypt but unfortunately
the conditions in Egypt went against his desires and forced the officials to relocate the event.
Qatar Sports Federation (QSF) was very quick in acting upon the request of tournament’s president and made arrangements that allowed the officials to confirm the replacement of the event in time without any major undesired consequences.
QSF has experience of holding events of international standards. This event will be played at the most exalted sporting arena in Qatar, Khalifa Complex. Players have been guaranteed the same atmosphere as Cairo. Every arrangement
has been carried out with utmost care to make sure that junior squash players do not lack any facilities and enjoy their tour.
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