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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 April 1999 Issue No. 426 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 April 1999 Issue No. 426
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Special Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters More media hype
By Eman Abdel-Moeti
It takes a special kind of person to lead more than a hundred players into new horizons. Sarah Fitz-Gerald, president of the Women's International Squash Professionals Association (WISPA), falls into that category. WISPA head since 1992 and re-elected for the fourth time last week, the Australian player has been striving to popularise the world tour, stage more events, generate more money and provide better opportunities for players to make a living from the sport.
Fitz-Gerald, this year's world champion, has developed a new strategy to promote women's squash worldwide. "We are trying to raise the profile of the women's game by introducing their personalities for the media to focus on," Fitz-Gerald told the Weekly while in Hurghada for the Grand Prix Finals.
At the moment, the media is focusing on Michelle Martin and Fitz-Gerald, the world's top two players. "But there are also up-and-coming players coming through," Fitz-Gerald said, noting promising talents like Natalie Grainger of South Africa, the only African representative in WISPA's seven-member board. Grainger's presence on the board is to Africa's advantage since Nigeria will hold its own open tournament for the first time.
"So it is not going to be just Michelle and me in the media anymore," Fitz-Gerald said. "This is the future of women's squash."
For Fitz-Gerald, the championship in Hurghada has given women's squash a strong boost throughout the world. "Egypt is obviously very important to us because of this spectacular event, the Al-Ahram International, and the other tournaments organised and hosted in Egypt," Fitz-Gerald said. "We certainly hope we will be back again in Hurghada next year."
The unique setting on the waterfront helped publicise women's squash and their world tour -- which includes 45 events on the calendar -- while prize money has increased 59 per cent.
In addition to the traditional countries that are big circuits for us, there are new countries today like Egypt, the US and Malaysia. "New Zealand is getting involved as well," Fitz-Gerald said. WISPA's total prize comes to $611,000 a year, but the association is hoping the figure will increase to $2 million. According to WISPA Director Andrew Shelly this can be done given the right circumstances and the way women's squash is presented. As Fitz-Gerald sees it, this could be achieved "if we manage to get personalities across for the media and the spectators." She mentioned John McEnroe, the former tennis great with a hot temper, as an example of how he promoted his game.
Fitz-Gerald said that while events like Hurghada help, WISPA officials should promote the game further. "Thus we are working on having our own web site on the Internet," Fitz-Gerald said.
Squash is close to being an Olympic game by 2004, but at 31, Fitz-Gerald may not be playing on the courts by then. Besides age, Fitz-Gerald has had to battle back from surgery she had on her knee last year. In the first round of the Hurghada Grand Prix, recurring pain forced her to withdraw and cancel a trip to the United States next week, but she is preparing to defend her fourth world title in October. "I am going back home to Australia to try and see whether I just need more treatment or another surgery," Fitz-Gerald said.
"Michelle is also determined to win her fourth world title and, of course, we have all the young players chasing after us as well," Fitz-Gerald said.
Fitz-Gerald also wants to play in the Australian Open three months from now. "That would give enough time to deal with my knee and come back to play without problems," she said.
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