Colombia’s
World No.14 Miguel Angel Rodriguez cannot wait to return to Dubai when
the ATCO PSA World Series Finals light up the Emirates Golf Club from June 5-9.
The
32-year-old is currently in the form of his life after claiming his
first ever World Series title at the prestigious Allam British Open when
he defeated World No.1
Mohamed ElShorbagy to make history by becoming the first winner from
South America. The Colombian also added the Sporta Guatemala XI Torneo
Internacional PSA title to his haul of titles last week after defeating
Peru’s Diego Elias in the final.
Rodriguez
will be making his second appearance in Dubai after first reaching the
tournament when it was staged at the foot of the Burj Khalifa two years
ago and the
Colombian spoke of his pride at playing at the iconic event.
“It’s terrific for me, when I was a kid I always wanted to play at the tournament,” said the 32-year-old from Bogota.
“I
remember Thierry Lincou and Amr Shabana playing that tournament and
when I was a kid the dream was to be top ten in the world and play the
World Series Finals.
“I
missed last year and at the beginning of the year I set a goal that I
was able and capable to make the World Series Finals and I’m here doing
it.
“I’m
so happy and so proud, it was not easy because I had Nick Matthew and
Omar Mosaad in front of me and I had to wait for the results as well,
but I made it and it’s
like the cherry on the cake.”
The
World Series Finals brings together the top eight players on the Men’s
and Women’s PSA World Series Standings, with qualifying points on offer
at all World Series
tournaments throughout the 2017/18 season.
The
tournament also features a unique best of three format throughout the
group stages before reverting to the traditional best of five for the
semi-finals and final
and Rodriguez is looking forward to the change.
“I like it, I think a separate format for this tournament is good,” said Rodriguez.
“No
doubt we need best of five in the World Series tournaments. Squash is
all about strength and conditioning and it’s so tough this is why we
can’t switch to best of
three because otherwise it will be very short game and sometimes when
you are 2-0 down you can still win.
“But,
I think for Dubai it’s a great opportunity and a great format to play
best of three – it’s the last tournament of the season, you don’t get
points, but I think
it’s a reward for the top eight players that they reach that tournament
and I’m very happy to be in Dubai again.”
Rodriguez has been drawn in Group A and will face Egypt’s reigning World Champion Mohamed ElShorbagy on day one at 20:45. All times are local GMT +4.
The semi-finals are due to take place from 20:00 on June 8, while the finals will commence at 20:00 on June 9.
Every
fixture will be shown live on SQUASHTV (Rest of World) and Eurosport
Player (Europe only), while the semi-finals and final will be broadcast
on live mainstream
channels across the globe, including BT sport, beIN Sports, Fox Sports
Australia and Astro.
Tickets for the World Series Finals can be purchased here: https://dubai.
Squash fans can follow the tournament via https://worldseriesfinals.
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