Supported by title sponsor Dunlop, the Liverpool Culture Company and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), the world’s most prestigious and longest established squash championships will feature the leading male and female professional players and will be run alongside the sport’s most successful annual Masters Championships, comprising 13 age-group events from O35 to O70.
Qualification and the opening rounds will be held at Liverpool Cricket Club (6th to 9th May) with quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals to be staged at the ECHO Arena Liverpool (10th to 12th May).
Situated in the beautiful location of the Kings Dock on the River Mersey, the ECHO Arena Liverpool hosted the opening ceremony of the Capital of Culture Year in January and is quickly establishing itself as the centre of entertainment for concert goers and sports enthusiasts across the North West and North Wales, offering visitors a unique experience in one of the UK’s most vibrant cities.
The Dunlop British Open - Liverpool 2008 will be the first sporting event to be held at the new state of the art 10,000 plus seater arena, and will be a fitting venue for the world’s premier squash championships, which will be staged in Liverpool for the first time in its illustrious eighty-five year history.
Gregory Gaultier of France and Australia’s Rachael Grinham are likely to face equally challenging defences of the sport’s most sought after title.
Gaultier, the first Frenchman to win the British Open, will face an imposing field, whose leading contenders will include three Egyptians: Amr Shabana, the World No.1 and World Champion, Ramy Ashour and Karim Darwish, Gaultier’s compatriot and last year’s finalist Thierry Lincou, an Australian, David Palmer, and two Englishmen, the 2006 British Open Champion Nick Matthew and James Willstrop.
Rachael Grinham can be guaranteed to make a tough minded defence of the women’s crown, but it will take a repeat of her 2007 brilliance to see her lift the coveted trophy for a fourth time. Her main challengers will undoubtedly be the World No.1 Nicol David, whom she defeated so spectacularly in last year’s final, and her younger sister Natalie, but if there is to be a surprise challenge, it could come from England’s Tania Bailey and Jenny Duncalf, or the ever-dangerous Natalie Grainger from the USA.
Grainger, the Manchester-born former South African, has often struggled with motivation and fitness during a frustrating career of underachievement, but with time now short for the former World No.1, the chance of being remembered as a British Open Champion may just be enough to focus her mind and make her short game even more an area to beware.