Squash Nationals Dates Changed, Teams Event Cancelled
Saturday 18 April 2020, 10:08AM
By dave worsley
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A blow to the squash calendar in New Zealand with the cancellation of the New Zealand Senior Teams event which was to be held at Hutt City in Wellington, 28-30 August.
The event has been called off for 2020 due to the impacts of Covid-19 and travel restrictions. This means Auckland in the men’s and Bay of Plenty in the women’s competition remain current champions until 2021.
However another major event will continue, albeit with postponed timing. The New Zealand Senior Individual Championships where top 10 players, Paul Coll and Joelle King are reigning champs will still be played in 2020.
The men’s tournament was first played in 1932 and women’s has been held since 1951. This year’s tournament was to be played 26-28 June at the North Shore Squash Club, but will now be held from August with exact dates to be confirmed to allow for nationwide and any international travel.
Squash New Zealand made the decisions after consultation with its Districts and health authorities and hopes to have full tournament play underway as soon as possible in the future once there is full health clearance from the government and travel around the nation becomes accessible.
Around the wold the prestigious British Open and World Junior Championships have been cancelled while the PSA world tour is suspended with no tournament play until the end of July.