FIR ANNOUNCED WORLD TOUR 2009
The FIR Racketlon World Tour for 2009 is now official. The same 12 countries as this year will host 7 World Tour and 5 Super World Tour events. Singles and Team World Champs will be held in Fürth/Germany for the second consecutive year, while Doubles World Champs went to Prague for the first time and will be held in April already.
Super World Tour Events increased to 5
FIR Council has decided to increase the number of Super World Tour (SWT) events from by one, because of the excellent organization, media coverage and high prize money these tournaments can offer. Swedish Open in Malmö will thus host the first SWT in January already, followed by Canadian Open in Toronto (March). With Belgian Open in June and Austrian Open in September the SWT events are well spread over the whole year to end with the only contenders for the World Champs: Fürth/Germany.
Doubles World Champs in Prague
There were quite a few contenders to host the Doubles World Champs in 2009. FIR choose Prague in the end, who are not only one of the oldest tournaments on the tour, but also have an extraordinary good venue with the hotel directly on site. With the promise of one or even two more Squash courts Czech Open won the bid.
Challengers can still apply
The rest of the World Tour is similar to this year with a few exceptions like Hungarian Open moving back to Pecs where the first Hungarian Open was held. Both dates for Swiss Open and Finnish Open were moved. Zürich will be held in June again and Helsinki will try October this year. National Federations can still apply for Challengers any time until 100 days before start date of the tournament.
TOURNAMENT CALENDER 2009
FIR WORLD TOUR 2009
January 16th-18th: SWEDISH OPEN, Malmö (SWT)
February 20 – 22nd: HUNGARIAN OPEN, Pecs (WT)
March 13th-15th: CANADIAN OPEN, Toronto (SWT)
April 2nd - 5th: CZECH OPEN, Prague (WT+DOUBLES WC)
June 5th-7th: BELGIAN OPEN, Oudenaarde/Brussels (SWT)
June 27th – 29th SWISS OPEN, Zürich (WT)
July 24th -26th: DUTCH OPEN, Eindhoven (WT)
August 21st-23rd: ENGLISH OPEN, London (WT)
Sept. 4th–6th AUSTRIAN OPEN, Wr.Neudorf/Vienna (SWT)
25th – 27th September SCOTTISH OPEN, Edinburgh (WT)
9th – 11th October, FINNISH OPEN, Kauniainen/Helsinki (WT)
November 19th – 22nd World Champs Team/Singles, Fürth/Germany (SWT)
