WSF President Jacques Fontaine Issues COVID-19 Update

WSF President Jacques Fontaine Issues COVID-19 Update​

Dear Presidents, Dear Secretaries General, Dear friends

I am writing to you during one of the most unbelievable eras in living memory, with more than half of world in ‘lockdown’ and the entire sporting world shut down. My first thoughts are for those who are affected by the Covid-19, hence I am sending my best wishes to our entire squash community.

While the world’s leaders come to terms with the shocking effects of this virus, we have had to make difficult decisions with the cancellation of our World Junior Championships in Australia in July and our friends from PSA with the complete suspension of the PSA World Tour until July 2020.

The result of worldwide government instructions to ‘self-isolate’ in order to curb the spread of the virus is that we are having to survive without access to our squash courts – and whilst this has put unprecedented strain on players, it has produced a plethora of ingenious ways of enjoying our sport while keeping safe!

During this time, it is vital to follow the measures of the WHO and our local health authorities.

Indeed, our recent launch of the #StaySafeWithSquash campaign has had widespread response on social media, demonstrating the vitality of our sport and its players and the need to stay positive and healthy.

Many of us are getting used to ‘working from home’ as we keep our federations active, though we know many NFs have had to close their offices and cannot operate at all.

While suffering these severe restrictions, we need to prepare ourselves for the post outbreak period and assess the consequences for our sport. To this purpose, the WSF will do its utmost to ensure that any WSF events cancelled during the period will find an appropriate place once this worldwide "lockdown" is over.

Be assured that the WSF will continue to serve its members in the best way it can in the coming days and weeks and bring the support our community needs.

I urge you to remain positive – remembering the good times in the past and looking forward to even better times for our flourishing sport in the future.

Do not hesitate to share with me your current issues and I would like to sincerely thank you for your continuous commitment during this dire period.

Your sincerely,

Jacques Fontaine

World Squash Federation President

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Notes to Editors

Free-to-use imagery of WSF President Jacques Fontaine is attached.

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