PROSQUASH
Vol 11 No.
2 Issue No. 42 April 2007
Directors: Mahendra Agarwal, Narendra Gour (I.R.S.) Navneet Soni (I.R.S.) Shiv Kumar Dhanuka // Honored Patrons: Vivek Nair (VC & M.D.The Leela), Sajjan Jindal (Chairman & M.D. JSW Steel Ltd), Eric Dastur (Chairman, K.M. Dastur Reinsurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.) // President: Ashish Gupta // Vice President: Noreena // Secretary General: Sanjay Goyal // Joint Secretary: Vicky Kalludi // Treasurer: Ashok Nagpal // Executive Committee Mem.: Bharat Bhushan (I.R.S.), Saifee Jani, Rakesh Lakhanpal, Madhukar Musle, Karan Mehra, Ajit Singh, Imroz Pathan // Advisors: Pradeep K. Vijayakar // Chief Executive: Vidhya Rao // Technical Director: Amitoj Inder Singh // Chief Co-ordinator: Riaz Mohammed
WHEN SPORT AND SHOWBIZ WENT HAND IN HAND 31/01/2007
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Who
says that sport and showbiz can not go hand in hand? Not ISP. They ensured
the two did and made doubly memorable the
Platinum Jubilee All India Squash Carnival- ISP's 75th tournament.
At grand finale the sportsguys and girls, after sweating it out on the
courts, donned elegant dresses and walked the ramp in company of the
leading models of the city and had fans clapping in delight. Indian Squash Professionals has probably never planned a tournament so far in advance and in so much detail as it did for this gala event. Tentative dates were decided way back in April 2006, and detailed planning started in November. The scale of the event was always supposed to be BIG! Eventually, the tournament turned out to be one of the biggest India had ever seen. The groups in which events were held were unprecedented for any single championship ever held in India. Categories from Under-7 to Over 55 allowed players to compete with their own peers, as did team partners of varying age and caliber in the Doubles (with and without Handicap) categories. |
| The location within Mumbai had to be convenient for players
from all across Mumbai, as well as convenient for outstation participants'
accommodation. So, the centrally located Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana and The
Club (Andheri West) were identified. The tournament was sponsored by
Mid-Day, Radio Mirchi, The Club, Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana and Popley
Jewellers. The prize money was in the region of Rs 5.4 lakhs . with the
Men's Open Winner prize being Rs 1,00,000
and the runner- up's
being Rs 50,000. There were
fabulous prizes upto the
semi-finalists in each category.
The scale of the tournament, the spread
of age groups and the abundance of sponsors led to a record number of
entries- over 382 for singles, including four from Pakistan and
90 for doubles. The matches went as per schedule, and most categories saw top-seeded players emerge winners, the only upset coming in the Professionals section with Sanjay Pawar |
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