WISPA AGM Elects New Board

An historic note was struck at the 23rd AGM of the Women's International Squash Players' Association in Doha, held in conjunction with the Qatar Classic WISPA Gold championship, when a new board was elected - including, for the first time, two men.

Led by President Natalie Grainger (USA), the new board features Jaclyn Hawkes (New Zealand), Blair Keller (USA), Antony Lee (Malaysia), Ingrid Lofdahl-Bentzer (England), Madeline Perry (Ireland) and Jenny Tranfield (England).

In addition to 24-year-old New Zealand player Jaclyn Hawkes, currently at 21 in the WISPA world rankings, the new board members are New York-based American Blair Keller, who works for global asset management group Fairfield Greenwich Group, and Antony Lee, a recent President of Squash Malaysia.

On behalf of the new Board, WISPA President Natalie Grainger thanked Katie Patrick - the Canadian player who was not re-elected - for all her work for WISPA during her time as a Board member. Ms Grainger also paid tribute to Linda Elriani, the former Chairman from England who has stepped down from the Board after thirteen years of service.

WISPA Chief Executive Andrew Shelley is enthused by the make-up of the Board: "The members have voted for strong business and marketing experience, combined with Tour players - so we have a great balanced team in place as we go forward."