Al -Ansar Squash Committee
The game of squash began in 1815 in England  and
in the early seventies spread throughout many British colonies. It is the
ideal sport for the cities as it only requires 65 square meters of playing
space and the time per session does not exceed 45 minutes, as it requires
a lot of physical effort.
The sport has approximately 20 million participants with 4 million in
the United Kingdom. In Lebanon, the first squash court was built in 1970
at the Golf Club and there are presently about 50 courts.
In Lebanon, Paul Ackawi, George El-Hajj, and Hassan Dakroub head our
list of players for the men, and Ziena Freywat and Sharifa Abou Ezzedine
for the women. All of these players are members of the Al-Ansar Sporting
Club.
Mr. Mahmoud Badawi, a member of the Al-Ansar Board of Trustees, heads
the Lebanese Squash Federation. The Federation organizes several yearly
club tournaments and one Lebanese Championship. The Al-Ansar Club organized
its first Squash Tournament in 1997 at The Escape Club and it resulted
in one of the most successful tournaments that the game has seen in Lebanon.
In order to improve the game, and in anticipation of the new Al-Ansar
Stadium which is still being built, Mr. Diab with all his efforts has convinced
the Municipality of Beirut to build two squash courts where Al-Ansar players
can practice the game and improve their quality of performance. |
