Kuwait All Set for
Sheikha Al Sa'ad
The first major international sporting event to be hosted by Kuwait starts tomorrow as the world's top squash players converge on Kuwait City for the Seikha Al Sa'ad Kuwait Open.
All roads will lead to Salmiya Sporting Club and the Green Island where the qualifying and final matches respectively, will be held from Jan 23 to Jan 28.
The men's qualifying draw draw will be held at 12:00 noon
on Friday at the Salmiya Sporting Club Squash Centre and the qualifying
matches will kick off at 3:00 pm at the same
venue.
The highlight of the five-day tournament will be the unveiling of a new, all-glass court specially imported from Boston, USA at Green Island where main draw action will take place.
Former Kuwaiti number one Adel Jassim Al-Ghareeb - who is also the promoter and tournament director - unveiled the plans in a press conference held on Wednesday at the Salmiya Sporting Club Squash Centre.
The opening, according to Al-Ghareeb, will be a lavish and memorable event complete with fireworks in a fitting celebration of the country's first-ever hosting of a major international sporting event, and will be graced by HH The Crown Prince Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Salem Al-Sabah who is the patron of the event, and HH Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
Also present will be former great Jahangir Khan of Pakistan who is the president of the World Squash Federation, and other dignitaries of the sport including "the Voice of Squash" Robert Edwards who will be doing a blow-by-blow account of the matches.
Once the action gets under way the Kuwaiti fans will be able to enjoy watching the elite of world squash, with many questions to be answered.
In the men's event top seed Peter Nicol will be seeking what, in his terms, is a long-overdue tournament win as he attempts to reclaim the coveted number one position. Second seed John White is also chasing the top spot, knowing that good points here could put him in pole position in the March shake-up. Third seed David Palmer believes he can reach the top in 2004 after struggling throughout most of 2003, and fourth seed Jonathon Power, making his comeback after missing out on the big events at the end of last year, has made clear his intention to reclaim top spot by the end of 2004. Then, as fifth seed, is current world number one Thierry Lincou competing in his first tournament since his spectacular leap up the rankings after Lahore. Throw world number four Lee Beachill and world champion Amr Shabana (who meet in the first round) into the mix and Kuwait should witness one of the most intriguing tournaments in many a year.
With the retirement of Carol Owens the women are jockeying to see who will take over the mantle of world number one in the February rankings. Top seed Cassie Jackman is seeded to meet Rachael Grinham in the final. Jackman seems to have the easier half of the draw, with Natalie Grainger and Linda Charman looking set for a quarter-final clash, a repeat of the recent Apawamis final, although Jackman still finds Natalie Grinham, Vanessa Atkinson and teenage sensation Omneya Abdel Kawy barring her path to the final. Grainger probably starts favourite, but with the two dominant forces in women's squash now retired the women's game looks more open than ever.
The Sheikha Sa'ad Kuwait Open, which takes place in Kuwait
City at the end of January 2004, will celebrate the life of Sheikha Al
Sa'ad Al-Sabah, who died on the 2nd February 2003 at the age of just 38.
The tournament will be a sporting memorial to a remarkable woman, who was
herself a first class squash player. The popular Sheikha was Managing
Director of International Marketing KPC Oil and a dedicated member of the
Kuwaiti Royal family, deeply committed to her country.
