13 Mar 07 - Prince Sports Europe Squash Newsletter – March 2007

JENNY DUNCALF become the latest Prince star to win a tournament in her maiden appearance with the brand's new O3 racquet technology when she clinched the women's British National Championship title in England last month. Using the new O3 Black racquet for the first time, sixth seed Duncalf ousted the event's top seed and third seed on the way to the final - where she fought back from two games down to overcome fourth-seeded compatriot Alison Waters to win the title for the first time. The revitalised England international is back in WISPA World Tour action this month, competing in the CIMB Kuala Lumpur Open in Malaysia.

In a notable British double for the pioneering Prince racquet, JOHN WHITE followed his success with the O3 Black in the Dayton Open in the USA in January by also reaching the British National Championship final in Manchester. White, renowned as the hardest-hitter in the game, wowed the crowd as he crushed England internationals Peter Barker and Adrian Grant to reach the men's climax before bowing out to top seed James Willstrop. White went on to reach the quarter-finals of the Tournament of Champions at Grand Central Terminal in New York - and this month returns to the UK as No6 seed in the Canary Wharf Classic in London.

Malaysian MOHD AZLAN ISKANDAR cruised to victory in the North of Scotland Open last month in Scotland, beating England international Peter Barker 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 in the final in Aberdeen. The 24-year-old returns home this month to defend his title in the CIMB Kuala Lumpur Open, hoping to win the prestigious PSA Tour title for the third time in five years.

LAURENS JAN ANJEMA celebrates a career-high No21 world ranking this month after securing February's Oregon Open title in the USA as fifth seed. The 24-year-old Dutchman made his breakthrough in the quarter-finals where he upset Spain's third seed Borja Golan. In the final, Anjema despatched England's No2 seed Peter Barker 11-4, 11-4, 11-2 in just 35 minutes. Inspired by his international success, Anjema returned home to win the Dutch National crown for the first time.

LATASHA KHAN, the seven-times US National champion from Seattle, enjoyed WISPA World Tour success on home soil when she reached the final of the Women's Gannon Southport Open in Southport. The long-time Prince player went on to reach the quarter-finals of the Burning River Cleveland Classic in Ohio - her sixth WISPA event appearance in North America this year!

French teenager CAMILLE SERME secured success both on the junior and senior circuits in February. The 17-year-old European Junior Champion comfortably retained the French Junior Open title in her third successive appearance in the event's final - then exceeded her seeding at the beginning of this month to reach the final of the Sigma Swiss Open after upsetting the experienced Christina Mak, the second seed from Hong Kong, in the semi-finals of the WISPA event in Geneva.

Welshman RICKY DAVIESearned his first appearance in a PSA Tour final this month when he reached the climax of the Salzburg Open in Austria as a qualifier! The 25-year-old from Newport survived an 83-minute battle with the third seed in the quarter-finals before overcoming fellow Prince player MORTEN W SORENSEN, from Denmark, in the semis.

New Prince signing GARY WHEADON made an impressive start to his PSA Tour career when he won the first event he entered! The 26-year-old South African chose Iran for his debut - and, unseeded, despatched a series of seeds to reach the final of the FAJR International in Kish Island. The newcomer from Cape Town twice found himself behind in the match against Egyptian favourite Sherif Kamel - but, after 78 minutes, recorded his remarkable 9-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9 win.

Forthcoming events:

March

02-04 Welsh Junior U19 Open, Cardiff, Wales
07-10 Women's Burning River Cleveland Classic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
09-11 Sigma Swiss Open, Geneva, Switzerland
09-11 Austrian Junior Open, Vienna, Austria
14-17 CIMB Kuala Lumpur Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
17-19 Women's Savcor Finnish Open, Mikkeli, Finland
19-23 ISS Canary Wharf Classic, London, England
22-24 Saskatchewan Open, Regina, Canada
23-25 Women's Feminin Creteil Open International, Creteil, France
27-30 COAS International, Islamabad, Pakistan
29-01 Austrian Open, Vienna, Austria
31-03 European Junior U19 Championships, Herentals, Belgium

April

05-08 NSC Satellite No1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
05-08 European Junior U19 Team Championship, Herentals, Belgium
06-08 Garavan's West of Ireland Open, Galway, Ireland
07-11 Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open, Green Island, Kuwait
14-15 Women's Spaworld Hellendoorn Open, Hellendoorn, Netherlands
13-16 Women's Toronto Open, Toronto, Canada
13-17 Qatar Classic, Doha, Qatar
19-22 Irish Open, Dublin, Ireland
20-22 Fros Open, Sonderborg, Denmark
25-28 Women's Seoul City Open, Seoul, South Korea
26-29 Losone Swiss Classic, Losone, Switzerland

Prince player March world rankings

MEN:

12 John White SCO
19 Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS
21 Laurens Jan Anjema NED
41 Ritwik Bhattacharya IND
43 Omar Mosaad EGY
46 Amr Mansi EGY
49 Stacey Ross ENG
62 Simon Rosner GER
69 Jorge Isaac Baltazar Ferreira MEX
84 Luca Mastrostefano ITA
93 Laurent Elriani FRA
108 Mathieu Castagnet FRA
146 Neil Hitchens ENG
152 Regardt Schonborn RSA
163 Joshua Greenfield NZL
172 Ricky Davies WAL
213 Morten W Sorensen DEN
215 Jethro Binns WAL
223 James Snell ENG
308 Gary Wheadon RSA
308 Paul Aveyard ENG

WOMEN:

1 Nicol David MAS
12 Jenny Duncalf ENG
15 Rebecca Chiu HKG
21 Lauren Briggs ENG
28 Nicolette Fernandes GUY
30 Latasha Khan USA
34 Louise Crome NZL
51 Camille Serme FRA
76 Susannah King ENG
115 Adel Weir RSA
132 Ruchika Kumar CAN
136 Lynn Leong MAS
150 Leonie Holt ENG
164 Josefa Bertilsson SWE
177 Tan Yan Xin MAS


For more information, contact either Andy Bunting on +44 1223-233141 or AndyBunts@aol.com
or Howard Harding on +44 1737-243333, or (mobile) +44 7773-325130, or Howard@hhpr.co.uk