Third Asian Junior Squash Championship 2010:

Fourteen countries here for competition

The third Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships 2010 will be held in Colombo, from July 06 to 10, 2010.

Players from 14 countries from the Asian Squash Federation's member nations are billed to take part in this international event. Among them are Bahrain, China, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka

Events will be worked out at the Gymkhana Club Squash Courts in Maitland Crescent, Colombo 07 and at the Host Hotel Cinnamon Lakeside for the Girls & Boys Under 15 events until the Semi Finals stage, where they will also be shifted to the Gymkhana Club.

Parallely, the first Asian Masters Squash Championships will also be worked off in Colombo during this same period. This is a new event in the ASF Calendar which has drawn unexpected interest and entries from Asian Masters.

This major event is being sponsored by Dialog Broadband Services and the Ministry of Sports with Sri Lankan Airlines as the "Official Airline" of the Third Asian Junior Championships.

A delighted President of the Sri Lanka Squash Federation Oliver Guruge said, "Sri Lanka is both happy and proud to host this important event in the international squash calendar. With a 30 year protracted civil war behind us, and adverse travel advisories now contemporary history, Sri Lanka is once again regaining its position on the world's tourism map. These championships come out at an opportune moment when the Government of Sri Lanka is taking all measures to actively promote the country not only as a tourist destination, but also as a multi-faceted destination for sports tourism, health tourism, religious tourism, cultural tourism and more".

Kavan Ratnayake, Group Chief Corporate Officer of Dialog Telekom PLC said, "As Sri Lanka's leading mobile telecommunications provider, Dialog has always taken a special interest in powering sports in Sri Lanka. Squash has proved to be a very popular game in Sri Lanka and has a large and following. We're happy to partner with an international event of this nature and are confident that it will parallaly take Sri Lanka squash to greater heights"

CEO of SriLankan Airlines Manoj Gunawardena said, "Sports Tourism takes top billing in SriLankan Airlines global agenda as the airline constantly and actively promotes the vast geographical diversity Sri Lanka is famed for. The Airline has just finished the SriLankan Airlines Pro 2010 where over 120 surfers from around the world converged on the Arugam Bay and the East Coast attracting international endorsement as the best venue for water sports. SriLankan Airlines will fly in squash players, delegates and officials from several countries to Colombo and thus extend our support to the burgeoning popularity of this game both locally and regionally".

Chief Guest at the opening ceremony on 6 July 2010 will be First Lady Madam Shiranthi Rajapaksa, while Minister of Sports C.B. Ratnayake, will be the guest of honour. Namal Rajapaksa M.P. will grace the Awards Ceremony as chief guest and give away the awards on 10 July 2010 at the Gymkhana Club.

This five-day long tournament will consist of four main events which includes Boys and Girls Under 15, Under 19, apart from which there will be 5 x Masters events for Over 35, 45, 50, 55 and Ladies Over 35.

Among the 32 member strong Sri Lankan contingent are this country's top ranked junior players. The Third Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships 2010 are expected to feature some great squash and memorable performances of a very high standard, especially with the participation of top ranked players from 14 countries.

The main draw will be the presence of Ms. Deepika Pallikal of India. She was last year's runner up in the British Juniors (Under 19) and is the hot favourite to win the Girls Under 19 category with some opposition expected from the Malaysian and Hong Kong players.

In the Boys event, the Pakistan Juniors are expected to have the edge with their hard hitting and endurance which they display all the time !

"The game of squash has, at the same time, seen a tremendous resurgence both in terms of public interest and popularity in Sri Lanka during this past two years. Needless to say we have been greatly, encouraged by the record number of entries for all tournaments conducted by the SLSF during this period.

We're thrilled to note that squash has attracted large number of players among all age groups in Sri Lanka. Our wish is to see Sri Lanka emerge as a major squash playing nation in the region in the not too distant future", Guruge concluded.