Pro Squash Tour returns to Bates this weekend
Bobby Burns ’12 returns to Bates Squash Center this weekend as a professional in the second Bobcat Classic, part of the Pro Squash Tour. (File photo by Greg Born)
LEWISTON, Maine — Pro Squash Tour returns to Bates this weekend, Oct. 26-27, for the second Bobcat Classic, which will again showcase some of the best squash players in the world. The weekend will also include an amateur tournament which will feature nearly 20 top college players.
Two Bates alumni, Sean Wilkinson ’08 and Bobby Burns ’12, will compete in the pro draw. Wilkinson, an assistant coach at Drexel University, was a three-time captain of the squash team. Burns, a two-time First Team All-NESCAC and Bobcat captain last year, is an assistant squash pro at the New Canaan (Conn.) Country Club.
Bates first-year student Ahmed Abdel Khalek, the 2009 and 2011 U.S. Junior Open Champion, is one of the players to watch in the men’s 6.0 amateur draw. The tournament field will also include players from Bowdoin, Brown and other schools. Matches will be streamed online via Bates webcasting. The pro matches can be viewed via ProSquashTV.com.
“We are thrilled to be hosting the Bobcat Classic again this year,” said Pat Cosquer, head men’s and women’s squash coach at Bates. “Between the pro and amateur draws, this event will feature the best squash players the state of Maine has ever seen.”
Bates is home to two of the nation’s top squash programs. Both the men’s and women’s teams are perennially ranked in the College Squash Association’s Top 20, and have dominated in-state competition from Bowdoin and Colby over the past several years.
Headlining the pro draw are David Palmer from Australia, the four-time British Open Champion who has won many PST events since joining the tour last November; Bradley Ball of England, 2011 PST World Champion; and Stephane Galifi, Italy’s No. 1 player, who placed fourth last weekend in his PST debut at the Cleveland Classic.
Over 150 years old, squash is played by an estimated 20 million people in 185 countries. Players from across the globe compete on Pro Squash Tour for points and prize money. The top eight players are invited to an end-of-season championship.
The Bobcat Classic begins on Friday at 5 p.m. and continues on Saturday, with the semifinals at 11 a.m. and the third-place and championship matches at 5 p.m.
For more information, visit www.ProSquashTour.net.