PSA Appoints Alex Gough As Chief Operating Officer

Former world No5 Squash player Alex Gough has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of the Professional Squash Association.

Gough will work closely with the newly-appointed PSA CEO Richard Graham on the operational aspects of Tour development, media coverage and promotion. His primary role will be to instigate and monitor quality control on all PSA Tour events, to ensure that they run to a consistently high professional standard, and advise promoters on effective management of their events.

Martin Macdonnell, the PSA Board member who chaired the interview panel for the recent CEO appointment, explained: "The majority of PSA events are run very efficiently by highly experienced promoters, but as we expand our Tour we are increasingly finding a need to assist newer promoters in ensuring that their events are run in accordance with our rules and marketed effectively to the Squash public.

"We had identified a need for this position before appointing the new CEO and the interview panel recommended that now was the perfect time to further invest in the future of the Tour. Alex's long term experience as a player and President of PSA will make him effective from day one and his knowledge will enable him to support the management and marketing experience of our new CEO."

The 37-year-old Welshman, currently ranked 25 in the world, will immediately resign his position as President of the PSA Board and retire from the Tour.

Alex Gough has enjoyed a distinguished career in squash since graduating from Cardiff University with a first class honours degree in mathematics. A member of the PSA since 1993, Gough has appeared in 16 Tour finals, with title triumphs in 10. He has represented Wales with distinction in eight World Team Championships and 18 European Team Championships. In 2006, he won the British Open Over-35 title, and in Bermuda last December became the only unseeded player to reach the quarter-finals of the World Open.

"I am extremely excited to have been given this opportunity at the PSA," said Gough. "I believe we have found a fantastic new CEO in Richard Graham and I am looking forward to working closely with him. The PSA Tour, and squash as a whole, has huge potential right now and I am looking forward to the challenge of making the sport look as exciting and as attractive as we can.

"The PSA is incredibly lucky to have a fantastic depth of talent in its players and I know that they are ready and willing to help push the sport to the next level. We need the top players in the game to become well known personalities in the wider sporting world and be identifiably associated with the PSA brand."