03-Jul-05:
Atkinson joins in Porto Party
from Wolfgang Denk
The Porto Squash Open, Portugal's biggest squash event, took
place at the Hit Club - Acra Fitness last weekend, with 64 players
from Spain and England taking part.
The tournament promoters rented the Eventis/McWil glass court, which
was erected in the main square of Maja, a suburb of Porto,
Portugal's second city.
Porto currently has 35 squash courts, and is regarded as the "Squash
Capital" of the country. The glass court was hired to further
promote squash in the Porto are and to get as many new players as
possible interested in the game.
The highlights of the weekend were two exhibition matches featuring
World Champion Vanessa Atkinson.
Around 250 spectators enjoyed the show, which included an on-court
break-dancing session!
Vanessa and boyfriend Laurens Jan Anjema definitely enjoyed
the start of their summer vacations, which coincided with the
City Feast of Sao Joao - a crazy open air party with all the
participants equipped with plastic hammers to knock on the other
revellers' heads - which has Porto residents on the streets,
celebrating and drinking until the early morning.
The disco at the Hit Club on Saturday night was due to be opened by
none other than
Naomi Campbell, who unfortunately couldn't make it, which
disappointed all the motivated squash players, but certainly didn't
dampen the celebrations.PS:
Wolfgang, the CEO of McWil Courtwall, found that his birthday
coincided with this year's festival. "It needed to be celebrated,"
he said, "but after a fantastic four days, on the morning after I
actually felt TEN years older!"
 |
 |
