Former national champion Adrian Ezra arrived once again in Mumbai from the United States with squash close to his heart. Ezra is all set to take the sport in India to the next level, though he admits there is a wide gap to bridge.
Though based in the US, Ezra keeps a track of the sport in India and is delighted to learn that there is a plethora of juniors who have swelled the tally of squash players here.
Inspired by their enthusiasm, Ezra is gearing up to organize the second Ezra Invitational at the Bombay Gymkhana in December this year or early January next year, that will include the top four players in India and four overseas players in the top 30 for an eight-man competition.
Simultaneously, he revealed, there will be a parallel tournament for under-13 juniors.
"It's nice to have people dedicate their time to the game (in India)," said Ezra at the Bombay Gymkhana on Tuesday. "There certainly is more depth. I am happy to see more kids playing and as such there is more awareness."
He said, the Ezra Invitational will be sponsored by his stock-broking company Execuzen and will be organized by former world No. 1 Peter Nicol's recently launched World Squash Academy (WSA). The tournament will be a non-PSA event, with prize money amounting to $25,000, the highest in India.
"It will be good to see the best Indian players compete with the top overseas players. It will give the Indians a good opportunity to get better with the exposure," Ezra reasoned.
"We held the inaugural Ezra Invitational in 2005-06 and hopefully we will make it an annual event, which always was the plan. I will also try to get Peter Nicol, because he is a great ambassador of the sport," added Ezra, who is a WSA advisor.