Bid to lure Ross Norman

Press, 27 November 1986, Page 48

Bid to lure Ross Norman

PA Wellington Squash officials aim to lure the world champion, Ross Norman, back home next year for a challenge series against Jahangir Khan, despite the New Zealander’s plans not to return home in 1987. The New Zealand Squash Rackets Association was striving to capitalise on Norman’s con quest over Jahangir in the World Open at Toulouse, said the association’s president, Mike Greig, yesterday, but added that a decision would not be reached until early next year.

Mr Greig said he fully sympathised with the attitude of Norman and the world No. 3, Stu Davenport, in not wishing to play in next year’s New Zealand Open.

Norman said yesterday he regretted playing in this year’s N.Z. Open and was likely to skip the event in 1987.

Competing in New Zealand had cost him the chance of topping the world rankings and earning a big pay rise, he said.

He would have been No. 1 when the quarterly rankings came out this month had he not played in the lower level New Zealand Open. He won the tournament but the points earned were so low that it actually lowered his average by about 20 points. “In the rankings I have 532 points and Jahangir has 544. If I had stayed away, instead of being 12 points behind I would have been about eight points ahead,” he said after losing to Khan at

Zurich on Tuesday. The points available from any tournament depend on the prize money. The New Zealand Open offered SUSIS,OOO, compared with the $U525,000 to SUS6O,OOO available from other international tournaments.

“We want him back and we will be looking at ways to get him out here for matches next year, whether it is in a bigger prizemoney N.Z. Open or in a special series against Khan on the fishbowl court,” said Mr Greig.

The New Zealand Squash Rackets Association now boasts two world champions (Norman and Susan Devoy) and appears at the crossroads cautious on which direction to head.

It is seemingly poised to

make a bigger plunge into corporate business sponsorship and high level marketing. Both topics are expected to crop up at Saturday’s N.Z.S.R.A. annual meeting. Mr Greig said the options to promote the sport increased with the crowning of Norman as world champion. “What we could do is make the New Zealand Open a non-I.S.P.A. tournament and top players such as Ross could play without jeopardising their rankings.

“We could still have I.S.P.A. tournaments on a slightly smaller scale, like the finals for the national circuit, to help our rising players such as Rory Watt and Stephen Cunningham gain ranking points,” he

said. “It’s not just in New Zealand Ross cannot afford to play. It’s the same anywhere else in the world on the lower prizemoney tournaments. “As soon as practicable, we aim to stage a challenge series between Ross and Jahangir using the fishbowl (clearview) court.

“Jahangir has indicated he would be willing to meet Ross in New Zealand. at a price, play for five or six days straight, and then get out.

“That’s why we could only play the fishbowl games in Auckland — we wouldn’t have time to shift the thing and set it up again in another centre the next day.”