Asian Junior Squash in Colombo

Players from 14 countries from Asia are billed to take part in third Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships 2010 which will be held in Colombo, from July 06 to 10.
Among the participating countries 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 and at the host Hotel Cinnamon Lakeside for the Girls and Boys Under 15 events until the semi finals stage, where they will also be shifted to the Gymkhana Club.
The first Asian Masters Squash Championships will also be worked out 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 03rd Asian Junior Championships.
This five-day long tournament will consist of four main events which include: 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 the country’s top ranked junior players.
The main draw will be the presence of 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.
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. These championships come 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 growing following. We’re happy to partner with an international event of this nature and are confident that it will take Sri Lanka squash to greater heights.”