Squash: Canary Wharf tournament is a Classic – Willstrop

On Saturday, the Canary Wharf Classic began in London.

It is in its 12th consecutive year, making it quite the stalwart.

Tim Garner is the man behind it, and with his partners at Eventis (of which Peter Nicol, former world number one and founder of squash skills.com, is also a part) he has supplied us and the public with one of squash’s big occasions in London over these years.

As a player Tim is a pleasure to work with, not only gifting us a magical venue in which to play squash but always making the players feel welcome and happy.

After his retirement from the professional game Tim ran events – he has overseen the British Open, the biggest event after the world championship for the last few years – was in charge of the women’s professional association for a while, and likes to keep his hand in at some interesting charity challenges.

Never one to shirk any physical pain, he has run marathons and amazingly played seven squash matches in seven continents in seven days in 2013 with Peter Nicol. His latest effort is to compete in an ultra-marathon in May!

Three of the partners at Eventis, Tim, Peter and Angus Kirkland are former professional players and a fourth, Alan Thatcher, is the experienced MC for the event.

So, it is hardly a wonder things go well here.

It’s exciting to be in London for this event again.

The first round began yesterday evening and continues today.

The final is on Friday evening and the week’s play can be watched live on www.psasquashtv.com

It’s the season of appreciation.