16-Jan, Final:  
[1] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [4] James Willstrop (Eng)  
          11/7, 13/11, 11/9 (40m)

Women's Final:
Natalie Grainger bt Shelley Kitchen  
          11/4, 12/10, 8/11, 8/11, 11/8 (44m)
 

“I lost focus a bit during the match,” said Grainger afterwards, attributing the second and third game losses to tins and bad length. “The margins for error at this level of play are quite small, so I had to regain my focus in the fifth to hit with greater accuracy and better length.”


Malcolm's Verdict ...

The only way the final of the Tournament of Champions failed to live up to expectations was that it didn't last long enough. The cries of "Come on James" from the crowd were driven purely from their desire for it not to end. Ramy didn't hear them, or if he did, he was taking no chances and recovering from 8-4 down, he took the game and the match 3-0.

From the moment the first ball was struck the two players had only one thought ... attack. Not an opportunity was missed and the finishing was deadly. The pace was frightening and James told me afterwards that no one plays faster than Ramy.

Ramy drew clear from 6 all in the first; James might have won the second, eventually losing it on extra points and he led 8-4 in the third before Ramy put together rallies of remarkable quality to win it 11-9. In truth there was little in it as the score indicates, but the champion held together the better at crucial moments.

The mutual respect they have for each other meant that the officials were redundant, save for calling the score. it was a pity that the match didn't last longer, since James deserved a game and the crowd loved every minute of it.

James is a different enough player, but Ramy is phenomenally different: fearless, uninhibited and incredibly talented. That he stays sound is very important not just for him, but for the game.

James will rarely play better and lose 3-0 and if ever the pair do go the full distance, that should be a classic indeed.

DRAW

Final Gallery
from Jos Aarts

StreetSquash Gallery

5/11, 7/11, 11/5, 11/4, 11/8 (78m)

Wael El Hindi

11/4, 7/11, 11/3, 15/13 (63m)

David
Palmer

Ramy
Ashour

11/7, 13/11, 11/9 (40m)

James Willstrop

8/11, 12/10, 14/12, 11/8 (69m)

Mohammed Abbas

Rafael Alarcon 11/4, 11/9, 9/11, 13/11 (54m)
Stewart Boswell

11/8, 8/11, 11/5, 11/6 (60m)
    
James Willstrop

11/9, 11/2, 11/1 (35m)

Gregory Gaultier

  Qualifying:

   09-Jan, Finals:

   John Rooney (Irl) bt Scott Arnold (Aus)                     11/9, 11/5, 11/4 (60m)
   Amr Mansi (Egy) bt Josh Greenfield (Nzl)                   11/4, 11/5, 11/5 (36m)
   Bernardo Samper (Col) bt Patrick Chifunda (Zam)    11/9, 11/8, 9/11, 14/12 (69m)
   Adil Maqbool (Pak) bt Clive Leach (Eng)                   5/11, 11/8,  9/11, 11/8, 13/11 (66m)
   Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Ahmed Hamza (Egy)             11/7,11/2, 11/6 (44m)
   Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) bt Gilly Lane (Usa)          5/11, 11/3, 11/7, 8/11, 11/5 (59m)
   Reghart Schonborn (Rsa) bt David Phillips (Can)     5/11, 11/9, 13/11, 11/7 (38m)
   AA Reda (Egy) bt Badr Abdel Aziz (Swe)                   8/11, 9/11, 11/6, 11/5, 11/5 (74m)


   08-Jan, Round One:

   Scott Arnold (Aus)    bye
   John Rooney (Irl)  bt Lefika Ragontse (Bot)                11/6, 11/5, 11/6 (30m)
   Amr Mansi (Egy) bt Jason Delierre (Can)                    11/6, 11/1, 11/9 (26m)
   Joshua Greenfield (Nzl) bt Abdul Razzaq (Pak)           11/4, 11/6, 11/7 (31m)

   Bernardo Samper (Col)  bye
   Patrick Chifunda (Zam) bt Nasir Farooq (Pak)            11/8, 11/3, 11/9 (20m)
   Clive Leach (Eng) bt Robin Clarke (Can)                    11/8, 3/11, 8/11, 11/9, 11/9 (55m)
   Adil Maqbool (Pak) v Kimelee Wong-Loc                    12/10, 11/9, 11/9 (40m)

   Ahmed Maged Hamza (Egy) bt Michal Reid (Can)      11/5, 11/5, 11/5 (27m)
   Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Arturo Castillo (Mex)              12/10, 11/1, 11/5 (30m)
   Gilly Lane (Usa) bt Hesham El Halaby (Egy)                11/6, 11/6, 11/8 (34m)
   Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind)   bye

   Regardt Schonborn (Rsa) bt Jacques Swanepoel (Rsa)  8/11, 12/10, 11/6, 12/10 (48m)
   David Phillips (Can)   bye
   Badr Abdel Aziz (Swe) bt Karim Yehia (Egy)                 11/8, 12/10, 11/8 (31m)
   Ali Anwar Reda (Egy)   bye


  Women's Draw:

   Mon 18.00:  Shelley Kitchen bt Vicky Botwright         11/5, 11/5, 11/6 (30m)
   Tue 18.00:   Natalie Grainger bt Vanessa Atkinson    11/6, 11/5, 11/5 (20m)
   Wed 18.00:  Natalie Grainger bt Shelley Kitchen       11/4, 12/10, 8/11, 8/11, 11/8 (44m)
 

15-Jan, Semi-Finals:

[1] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [3] David Palmer (Aus)
         11/4, 7/11, 11/3, 15/13 (63m)
[4] James Willstrop (Eng) bat [2] Gregory Gaultier
         11/9, 11/2, 11/1 (35m)

Women's Semi-Final:
Natalie Grainger (Usa) bt Vanessa Atkinson (Ned)
         11/6, 11/5, 11/5 (20m)

Ashour and Willstrop in ToC Final A Dream Rematch ...
Beth Rasin reports

Top seed Ramy Ashour raised his game to another higher level of play as he defeated third seed David Palmer in four games in front of yet another sellout crowd at the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions.

The first game was over in a flash – the 20-year-old Egyptian coming out of the starting gate at full throttle, jumping out to a 4-0 and then 8-3 lead, winning the game 11-4. “I was confident in the first game,” said the world’s #2 ranked player, ”but I also knew that Palmer would be tough.” Indeed, the three time ToC semifinalist stepped up his attack in the second game, winning it 11-7 to even the match.

“I did start to feel pressured today,” said Ashour, ”but my brother Hisham told me between the second and third game to get all the negative thoughts out of my head – to play my own game.”

Play his own game is exactly what Ashour did in the third – changing the pace, using the quick attack and moving the ball around the entire court to blister through the third game 11-3. But Palmer, a two-time World Open champion who makes his opponents work hard to win their matches, was not ready to walk off the court so quickly.

After a seesaw exchange of leads, the match went into extra points at 10 all. Up 11-10, Ashour hit a rare tin. Great length by Palmer and some well placed drop shots gave the 31 year old Australian his one game ball. But the extraordinarily talented Egyptian reeled off three nick winners in a row to earn a place in his first ToC final. “He just plays so fast,” Palmer commented after the match. “And there’s not much you can do against three rolling nicks at the end of a game.”

“I was desperate to make the final here,” said an elated Ashour whose championship opponent will be fourth seed James Willstrop, the 24-year-old Englishman who defeated second seed Gregory Gaultier in three very quick games.

Although Gaultier finished the match, the wrist injury he had been nursing all week finally became intolerable. Willstrop, who has played strong confident squash throughout the tournament is looking forward to the playing the young Ashour.

“Hopefully we can reproduce the match we played here last year,” said the Englishman referring to the 2007 Tournament of Champions quarterfinal in which he and Ashour played one of the most spectacular matches in the tournament’s history. “He’s a good lad and a fair player.”

In the evening’s opening match, defending Women’s Challenge Champion Natalie Grainger defeated her opponent in last year’s final, Vanessa Atkinson, 3-0. Grainger will play New Zealand’s Shelley Kitchen in the final.
 

DRAW

Semi-Final Gallery
from Jos Aarts

14-Jan, Quarters, Bottom Half:
 
[2] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt [6] John White (Sco)
         11/8, 11/5, 6/11, 11/13, 11/7 (69m)
[4] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [8] Stewart Boswell (Aus)
         11/8, 8/11, 11/5, 11/6 (60m)

Women's Semi-Final:
Shelley Kitchen (Nzl) bt Vicky Botwright (Eng) 
       11/5, 11/5, 11/6 (30m)

“Good for the crowd, not so good for me,” was how second seed Gregory Gaultier summed up his five game quarterfinal victory over eighth seed John White, the 34-year-old PSA tour veteran who is juggling his professional playing career while coaching the Franklin & Marshall men’s squash team. White had the standing room only crowd on their feet roaring with appreciation as he staved off two match balls in the fourth game with a display of unbridled determination, stunning shotmaking and corner to corner court coverage.

Down 8-10 in the fourth, White hit a winner after the match’s then-longest rally to close Gaultier’s lead to one. At 10-9, Gaultier seemed to have match point in hand several times, but the never say die veteran picked up four seeming winners off Gaultier’s racquet, and finally hit a winner of his own to tie the score. A Gaultier error gave White game ball, but then White tinned to even the score again. A service return cross court nick winner gave White the edge once more, and then on game ball, he hit a stunning backhand volley cross court kill to keep him in the match.

“I got the bit between the teeth in the fourth game,” said White. “For a moment there, I thought I was 19, but after that long rally to get to 9-10 in the fourth, I realized how old I am.”

White tried to slow the game down in the fifth game to conserve the little energy he had left, but Frenchman, who started the match with an easy confidence that was shaken by White’s comeback, picked up the pace to win the decider 11-7.

Gaultier will next face fourth seed James Willstrop who eliminated Australian Stewart Boswell in four games. Willstrop, who has been a ToC fan favourite since 2004 when, as a 20-year-old, he reached the quarterfinals, played a cautious opening game.

“Stewart can really punish you in the back of the court,” the 24-year-old Englishman said after the match, “so I wanted to pick my chances carefully.”

A lack of width off Willstrop’s racquet in the second gave Boswell the opportunity to even the score. Willstrop won the third and fourth games with relative ease when he opened up his attacking game, taking the ball short and creating more opportunities for his natural shotmaking ability.

The opening match of the evening featured England’s Vicky Botwright and New Zealand’s Shelly Kitchen in the Bear Stearns Women’s Challenge Cup. Kitchen, playing a strong attacking game, won in three games, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6.
   

DRAW

Quarter-Final Gallery
from Jos Aarts

Top seed Ramy Ashour was tested in his quarterfinal match against Wael El Hindi and he passed with flying colors and a standing ovation from the sellout crowd in Grand Central Terminal. In their quest to reach the semifinals the two players went all out, delighting the spectators with a display of skilled shotmaking that is the trademark of Egyptian squash and offering some drama as they animatedly shared their periodic displeasure with a referee’s call.

It was eighth seeded El Hindi who took the early lead in the match, using his physical play and his touch in the front of the court to win the first two games 11-5, 11-7. Ashour found himself consistently having to move around El Hindi to get to the ball and he hit a significant number of unforced errors. Down 0-2, Ashour nonetheless returned to the court for the third game with confidence and turned the match around as he stepped up his pace and used a quick attack on the ball to keep El Hindi off balance. In the third and fourth games, Ashour took the lead from the very first point, and never relinquished it, evening the match at 2 all with 11-4, 11-5 game wins.

As Ashour quickened the pace and the speed of his attack, El Hindi started to visibly tire, but he stepped up to challenge the #2 player in the world in the fifth game. El Hindi took an early 4-0 lead, fell behind at 4-5, evened the score at 6 all and 8 all, but his higher ranked countryman was not about to leave the court without the win and closed out the deciding game 11-8, hitting a stunning volley cross court nick winner on the final point.

With characteristic enthusiasm, Ashour shared his delight with the victory. “I wanted to test myself, to prove that I could be down and come back and this match was a great test,” the 20-year-old winner said after the match. “I am going to be put in a lot of hard situations and I have to figure out how to deal with that.”

In the first match of the day, fourth seed David Palmer also found himself in an all-out battle as Mohammed Abbas, the third Egyptian player still in the draw, came out shooting. The match was a superb display of style, technique and all court strategy as the two men treated the crowd to the highest standard of squash they had seen since the tournament began.

After taking the first game 11-8, Abbas fended off two game balls before succumbing in the second, 10-12. The third game saw another tiebreak; Abbas had a chance to win the game at 11-10, but Palmer nabbed it to go ahead 2-1 in games. It was a back and forth battle in the fourth but Palmer held Abbas off to earn his third trip to the Tournament of Champions semifinals.

“I haven’t had any match play for a few weeks, so it was good to have a tougher match today,” said Palmer. As for his chances against Ashour, Palmer said, “I feel pretty relaxed. I am the underdog now and Ramy has the pressure. Just a year ago, he was chasing the top ranked players and now he is the one being chased.”

The afternoon’s session of play concluded with the inaugural Mayor’s Cup College Squash Challenge featuring Yale University and Princeton University in the first ever college match with men and women from each team combining forces in competition. In a unique format, each player competed in a 12 minute match, with the player ahead at the timed conclusion the winner. With the match tied at two all, Princeton’s Kimlee Wong beat Yale’s Max Samuel to secure the Mayor’s cup bragging rights for the Tigers.
   

DRAW

Quarter-Final Gallery

Top seed Ramy Ashour appears confidently on track in his quest for his first Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions title, eliminating his Egyptian compatriot Omar Elborolossy in straight games in second round play at Grand Central Terminal. At just 20 years of age Ashour displays a maturity beyond his years, and clearly had no qualms about defeating the 32-year-old Elborolossy. Allowing his opponent just two points in each of the first and third games, Ashour left the capacity crowd wanting more of his dynamic court play and creative shot making.

Ashour will meet countryman Wael El Hindi in the quarterfinals. The sixth seeded El Hindi eliminated Julian Illingworth, the highest- ever ranking US men’s player, much to the disappointment of the highly partisan crowd who only rarely get to see an American in second round play of a PSA Super Series event. “I am really impressed with the work Julian has done to improve his game,” said El Hindi after the match. Having spent the last year on the men’s pro tour after graduating from Yale University, Illingworth is still learning some rookie lessons. “I could have played better,” he said after the match. “Wael has a different style of play- he’s very scrappy and there’s lots of talk on the court.”

The third Egyptian still left in the draw, eighth seed Mohammed Abbas will face off in the quarterfinals against two time world-champion David Palmer. Abbas eliminated Colombia’s Miguel Angel Rodriguez in three games and Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly met the same fate against countryman Palmer.

Australia’s Stewart Boswell also advanced, defeating Brazil’s Rafael Alarcon in four games. Alarcon played an attacking game early in the match, but after jumping out to early leads in the first two games was unable to hang onto a winning margin. The third was a seesaw battle; behind at 7-8, Alarcon snatched the game win at 11-9 after Boswell was assessed a conduct stroke for bouncing his racquet off the floor in frustration. But the biggest turn around of the match occurred when Alarcon squandered five game balls in the fourth, losing 13-11 after being ahead 10-6. “When I was down game ball, I actually relaxed and focused on playing out each point,” Boswell said after the match. Looking ahead to facing his next round opponent fourth seed James Willstrop, who eliminated Malayia’s Azlan Iskandar in three games, the Australian commented wryly, “I’ll need to get better in the next two days.”

The final quarterfinal match-up is second seed Gregory Gaultier against seventh seed John White. Gaultier dispatched Hisham Ashour in three games, but White ended up with a battle on his hands against Englishman Jonathan Kemp. The Australian born White, who plays for Scotland and now also coaches the Franklin & Marshall college squash team, had a multi tasking week-end. Over the course of 24 hours White won his first round ToC match, coached the F&M college team to victory in two rounds of match play in a tournament at Yale University, and returned to New York City to play Kemp. White got off to a great start in the evening’s last match taking a 2-0 game lead. But in the third White started shooting too early, resulting in several errors and giving Kemp the opportunity to even the match at 2 all. “I realized that I was doing exactly what I tell my players not to do,” said White about the third and fourth game losses. Taking the advice of fellow player David Palmer to slow the ball down and wait for the right opportunity to play his shots, White took a 10-5 lead in the deciding game, winning it 11-7.
   

DRAW

Quarter-Final Gallery

Round TWO Gallery
from Jos Aarts

Even though there were no upsets in the concluding matches of the first round of play in the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions, it was a significant day for several players in the championship renowned for its legacy of illustrious titleholders and its venue in historic Grand Central Terminal. Squash fans were especially thrilled to find a dramatic photo of the glittering glass court under the chandeliers in Grand Central on the front page of the Metro Section of the vaunted New York Times newspaper. And the busiest man at the tournament may have been top seed Ramy Ashour. With a day off after winning his first round match, the energetic and charismatic Egyptian was onsite for all of the afternoon session, coaching fellow players and doing TV commentary.

Unseeded Yasser El Halaby had a sizeable cheering section as he took on Brazil’s Rafael Alarcon in the day’s first match. A graduate of Princeton University, where he won four national intercollegiate titles, and an assistant pro at the Harvard Club, El Halaby had supporters from both institutions in the stands. His supporters roared with delight when he evened the match at one-all after taking the second game 11-5. But even with his countryman Ramy Ashour coaching him, El Halaby succumbed to the South American in four games.

Next on court was 19-year-old Adil Maqbool, making his Tournament of Champions debut against 11th seed Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia. Iskandar wasted no time in his advance to the second round as he defeated Maqbool in three games. Despite the loss, the Dubai based youngster who represents Pakistan was thrilled nonetheless. “I stepped on court and I thought about the great players who have won this tournament,” he said. “It was beautiful to be out on that court.”

Hungary’s Mark Krajcsak also made his Tournament of Champions debut. It looked for awhile as though it might have been a winning one as he took a 2-0 lead in games and was up 7-4 in the fourth against thirteenth seed Jonathan Kemp. But Kemp got his game on track just in time to secure victory. “I just lost focus in the fourth game,” Krajscak said. “And the points slipped away so quickly.” He received a different analysis from none other than Ramy Ashour, who had watched the match and was happy to share his insights. “Kemp started attacking more in the fourth game, and you didn’t respond,” commented the young Egyptian who is so clearly passionate about the sport. “But don’t worry. You’ll do better next time.”

In the final match of the day session, twelfth seed Hisham Ashour had his hands full with his compatriot Tarek Momen, also making his first Tournament of Champions appearance. The 19-year-old was unawed and came out shooting. “His shots were like a knife through butter,” said Ashour. ”He’d hit a drop shot and it would nick; he’d hit a deep drive and it would nick.” After trading games, Ashour stepped up with authority to win the deciding game 11-4.

The evening session marked the return of two players who had missed last year’s championship, Australia’s Stewart Boswell and France’s Gregory Gaultier. Boswell defeated Egypt’s Amr Mansi in four games while Second seed Gaultier dismissed Canada’s Shawn Delierre 3-0.

Fifth-seed James Willstrop, a Tournament of Champions fan favourite, treated the crowd to a display of elegant squash as he dispatched Ireland’s John Rooney with an ease that the Englishman confessed was surprising. “I have been having trouble in my first round matches recently, so I was expecting that his one would be similar,” Willstrop said. ”But I ended up feeling quite fluent out on the court tonight.”

India’s Ritwik Battacharya was the last of the tournament’s new faces on court. He faced seventh seed John White, who made very short work of the evening’s final match, winning 3-0 in 24 minutes. It was a particularly impressive performance considering that he is doing double duty as the squash coach at Franklin & Marshall University while still playing the PSA tour. Despite losing, Bhattacharya was undaunted. “I will be back next year and I will be better,” he declared.
  

DRAW

Round TWO Gallery
from Jos Aarts

Round One GALLERY
from David Barry
 

Julian Illingworth, the three-time US National Champion, delighted a vocal and partisan capacity crowd in Grand Central Terminal when he upended world # 17 Olli Tuominen in four games of determined squash in the opening round of play in the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions. “I liked the match up with Olli going into tonight’s match,” said the 23-year-old American who made history in last year’s Tournament of Champions when he became the first American to make it to the second round. “I knew he wasn’t going to outshoot me.”

Although the 28-year-old Finn stormed to a 9-4 lead in the first game, Illingworth was unfazed, winning the game 11-9. In the second game, Illingworth led most of the way until Tuominen snatched the lead at 11-10. But again the American held fast and won the game 15-13. Visibly tired in the third, he took the gamble of letting the game go at 2-11. The gamble paid off; he won the fourth game 11-8. As Illingworth put ice packs on his sore legs after the match, he compared this win to his historic 2007 performance. “Last year I was lucky,” he said referring to his having made it into the main draw as a lucky loser and then playing a qualifier in the first round. “This year, playing the 10th seed, I really earned the victory.”

Illingworth will next play Egypt’s Wael El Hindi who ended the evening’s matches with authority, defeating qualifier Regardt Schonburn of South Africa in straight games. El Hindi’s countryman Ramy Ashour, the tournament’s top seed, making his first appearance on court after injuries derailed him at year end, delighted the spectators with his trademark shotmaking as he swept past the hometown wild card entrant Chris Gordon 3-0. Omar Elborolossy and Mohammad Abbas also moved into the next round, but 15th seed Omar Abdel Aziz was sent packing by Australian Ryan Cuskelly in a 115 minute marathon match. Surprisingly, the experienced Egyptian did not take advantage of his opponent’s badly cramping legs in the fifth game, keeping the ball in play deep in the court instead of making Cuskelly move to the corners. After the match, the winner almost couldn’t believe his good fortune. “Just being able to play here in the Tournament of Champions for the first time is unbelievable. This atmosphere is so amazing – it is what we play squash for,” said the 20-year-old victor after his match. “I feel really lucky to have come out with a win.”

Cuskelly’s second round opponent will third-seed and two-time World Champion David Palmer who cruised to a 3-0 victory over Ireland’s Liam Kenny. In the contest between the tournament’s two Colombian players, it was the younger 22-year-old Miguel Angel Rodriguez who prevailed in straight games over countryman Bernardo Samper.
  

DRAW

Round One GALLERY
from David Barry

 

Youth prevailed in one of the most hotly contested matches of the qualifying finals for the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions as 19-year-old Adil Maqbool staved off four match balls en route to defeating 34-year-old Englishman Clive Leach in five games.

On an unseasonably warm winter day which made the courts unusually hot and facing an opponent with a home court advantage (Leach is the assistant pro at the New York Athletic Club where the matches were played), the Dubai-based Maqbool kept his cool to eke out a five game victory. Leach, who had to start the fourth game with a conduct stroke against him for failing to return to the court on time, won the game to even the match at 2-all. The veteran looked like he would easily make it into the main draw when he carved out a 10-7 lead in the deciding game, but his young opponent proved fearless and tied the score. Leach had one more match ball at 11-10, but Maqbool reeled off the next three points to earn his first trip to the glass court in Grand Central Terminal.

“He was getting to all my winners,” commented Patrick Chifunda wryly after losing his 69-minute battle with former Trinity College player Bernardo Samper, who drew his countryman Miguel Rodriguez in the main draw. Ali Anwar Reda became the seventh Egyptian in the main draw when he survived the longest match of the day and defeated Badr Abdel Aziz of Sweden in five games after being on court for 74 minutes. In another five game match India’s Ritwik Bhattacharya dashed the hopes of young American Gilly Lane and will play seventh seed John White of Scotland on Friday evening.
  

DRAW

Round One GALLERY
from David Barry


We are extremely grateful to David Barry, who sent us the results match after match....

Clive Leach, the 34-year-old assistant pro at the New York Athletic Club, had the home court advantage in his first round qualifying match at the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions, and it may been just the winning edge he needed as he eked out a five game victory against 21–year-old Robin Clarke of Canada.

Down 1-2 in games, Leach demonstrated the mettle of a veteran as he played his way back into the match by moving the ball to all corners of the court to create openings for winners.

“It was incredibly hot and tough out there today,” said Leach after the match, alluding to the unseasonably warm temperatures on court. The Englishman will next play an even younger competitor – Pakistan’s 19-year-old Khawaja Adil Maqbool who defeated Malaysia’s Kemlee Wong in three games.

The lone American player in the draw, Philadelphia’s Gilly Lane, moved one step closer to making an appearance on the glass court in Grand Central Terminal with a 3-0 victory over Princeton’s Hesham El Halaby, whose older brother Yasser will be playing in Grand Central at noon on Friday.
  

The Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions is operated by Event Engine, Inc., the largest commercial squash promotional company in the world.  Event Engine, Inc. also produces major squash championships in Toronto and Boston, and METROSquash with Sue at the Field Museum in Chicago.    
 

2008 DRAW

ToC 2007

Other activities during tournament week include extensive recreational competition in the Grand Open, a companion citywide amateur tournament and the SuperSTARS Connection Lunch on Wednesday, January 16 in support of PowerPlay NYC, Inc., a nonprofit providing fundamental sports and life skills training for girls in underserved communities in New York City. 

The Tournament also highlights the accomplishments of StreetSquash and CitySquash, two New York-based, youth-oriented after-school programs which blend squash, academics, community service and mentoring.
 

In addition to title sponsor Bear Stearns, event sponsors include Dunlop, New York Sports Clubs, Executive Fliteways, Juice and Pilsener Urquell.

The championships are also supported by Cityview Racquet Club, the Columbia Center for Shoulder Surgery, Grand Hyatt New York and the Campbell Apartment.