The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Sporting history at Falaknuma Palace

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 08, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Sporting history at Falaknuma Palace

V V Subrahmanyam

International squash tourney gets the best backdrop possible!

WAY TO PLAY: Players battle it out in the foreground of Falaknuma Palace at the Qatar Airways Challenge - WISPA 2006 Squash Championship in the city. — Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Falaknuma Palace came alive on Friday night. This time, the credit goes to sports. World's best women's squash players battled it out in makeshift all-glass enclosure in the quarter-final phase of the international women's championship. Selective lighting enhanced the ambience manifold.

Once the residence of the Nizam, the palace is not known to host sporting battles. But, this time, it provided the right inspiration not just for the players but also for those who walked into the premises for the first time.

The players and officials were taken on a guided tour of the architectural splendour of palace, for long closed to general public.

All-glass court

The floodlit squash court, incidentally the first time in India when the complete structure, including the flooring, was made of glass, was specially imported from Australia for this event. This will be used in Chennai for the next year's World men's team championship.

The backdrop the palace provided for the action was majestic. Secunderabad Club, which has a century-old history of squash, has hosted many squash events in the city. But this is a first time for the Old City.

This happens to be the third biggest event on the WISPA Tour with a prize money of $80,000.

The semi-finals and the final are scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday.

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