John White Re-Signs With Prince - And Celebrates In Ohio & Manchester

Former world number one John White has re-signed to Prince Sports. In his first tournament playing with the latest racquet in the brand's revolutionary new O3 series, White exceeded his seeding to reach the final of the 5-star PSA Tour event in the USA.

A member of the Prince Pro Squash Team for more than ten years, White has signed a new two-year agreement with the brand - and has switched to the new O3 Black racquet.

The US-based Scot made his O3 Black debut at the 5-star Dayton Open in Ohio. Seeded four, White burst through to the final, where he faced fellow Prince team member Ramy Ashour, the second seed from Egypt.

An inspired White took the opening two games, and forced the fourth into a tie-break - but it was the young world No5 who ultimately prevailed, winning 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-10 (2-0), 11-2 in a 72-minute marathon.

And this month, in the British National Championships in England, White captivated the crowds at the National Squash Centre in Manchester as he scythed his way through the world-class field to reach the men's final.

White's success mirrors that of fellow O3 squash players Peter Nicol and Nicol David. Peter Nicol, a Prince player for 15 years who topped the world rankings for 60 months, ended a six-month title drought when he picked up the O3 Tour - winning two major titles, the World Games and English Open, within a month. The Englishman went on to win two gold medals in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia, bringing his Games haul since 1998 to four gold medals!

Within days of first moving to the O3 Tour, Malaysia's Nicol David won her maiden British Open title - and went on to reach number one in the women's world rankings, a position she has now held for ten months. In the 16 months since adopting the O3 Tour, the Asian sensation has won 11 major titles, including both the British Open and World Open twice.

The O3 Black racquet joins the O3 Tour and the O3 Silver in the Prince squash range this year. Boasting the same 470 sq cm head-size as the O3 Tour, the O3 Black weighs only 135 gm, and retails at 199 Euros.

Australian-born John White, widely-known as the hardest-hitter of the ball, has enjoyed a highly successful career on the international squash circuit. Runner-up in the British Open and World Open in 2002, White went on to top the world rankings in March 2004. Since relocating in the USA in March 2005, he has reached seven PSA Tour finals in his new adopted home country - winning four of them! He currently boasts 12 titles from 29 career final appearances.

Within moments of picking up the O3 Black for the first time, White knew it was the racquet he'd been looking for.

"The 03 Black is a lovely racquet - it gives me even more power and the balance and aerodynamics really suit my game," said White. "The weight is spot on - I have not felt this comfy with a racquet for a while!"

"The 03 Black has that something special about it - it's definitely my favourite racquet!"

Since introducing its O3 racquets in squash, Prince has been overwhelmed by Tour players wanting to switch to the new technology: "Amazingly, the conversion rate is almost 100%," said Prince Sports Europe's International Player Promotions Manager Andy Bunting.

In addition to Peter Nicol, John White and Nicol David, O3 racquets are also in the hands of England's European champion Jenny Duncalf; Malaysia's world No17 Mohd Azlan Iskandar; India's world No41 Ritwik Bhattacharya; Egypt's British Junior U19 Open champion Omar Mosaad; Germany's European Junior champion Simon Rosner; France's former junior international Mathieu Castagnet; England junior international James Snell; Guyana's Central America & Caribbean Games champion Nicolette Fernandes; France's European junior champion Camille Serme and England's former England junior international Susannah King.

"The O3 Tour is the No1 selling squash racquet retailing in excess of €150, which boasts a 60%+ market share in Europe," said Mike Ballardie, Vice President & Managing Director of Prince Sports Europe. "The new range is regenerating squash racquet sales globally because of its unique properties, visual technology and awesome playability."

Prince's new O3 breakthrough is the first significant development in racquet technology since the late eighties when racquets changed from wood to graphite. The O3-engineered racquets provide a large sweet spot in a manoeuvrable and aerodynamic frame. Prince re-engineered traditional pin-sized string holes into giant O-Ports, providing total string freedom for a livelier response across the entire string bed. This expands the conventional sweet spot in racquets by up to 54%, turning it into a Sweet Zone!

O3 technology was first introduced in tennis, with unprecedented player response. Argentina's Guillermo Coria was the first top tour player to make the switch to the O3 Tour and regained his top ten ranking after a long absence through injury. Russian Nikolay Davydenko was ranked 20 in the world in May 2005 before moving to the O3 Tour - since when he has leapt to a career-high number three!

Since switching to the O3 White, Maria Sharapova has won WTA titles at Indian Wells and San Diego, and capped a sensational 2006 by winning her second Grand Slam title at the US Open.