Kenya set to welcome WSF Squash Ambassadors
By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad International Correspondent

Kenya is set to welcome the WSF Ambassador Programme this week when three of the world’s leading squash players visit the country’s capital Nairobi for the World Squash Federation promotional initiative hosted by the Kenyan Squash community.

The sport’s ultimate ambassador Nicol David, a former world No.1 and the record eight-time World Champion from Malaysia, will join fellow players Camille Serme, the world No.3 from France, and Borja Golan, Spain’s former world No.5, at Parklands Sports Club and the Nairobi Club for the eighth edition of the annual WSF initiative.

Launched in 2011, the WSF international promotional initiative takes leading squash players, together with an international coach and referee, into younger squash nations to help raise the sport’s profile – through clinics, exhibition matches, refereeing and coaching seminars, and media presentations.

Joining the three players will be Belgian national coach Ronny Vlassaks and international referee Marko Podgorsek, from Slovenia. The 2019 campaign gets under way on Thursday June 27.

“Kenya epitomises the squash nations we want to bring the WSF Ambassadors Programme to,” said WSF CEO Andrew Shelley.

“There is a great enthusiasm for squash, great potential too. There is a positive momentum and the players, referee and coach activities that we can bring via our group will enthuse the squash community there; while the media work will help stimulate interest in squash too.

“The new leadership of squash in Kenya are working so hard to invigorate squash, so we look forward to meeting them and interacting.

“It is a particular pleasure for us that recently-retired Nicol can join Camille and Borja. Her first promotional visit was in 2002 (when it was a Women’s Tour initiative), and has been so supportive over many years since).”

Nicol David, who burst onto the international squash stage in 1999 as the 15-year-old winner of the World Junior (U19) title, rounded off her illustrious career last month at the British Open in England – the five-time champion playing the 700th professional match of her career as she bad farewell to the PSA World Tour after 20 years and more than 80 titles.

Serme and Golan also competed in the 2019 ‘Wimbledon of Squash’ – France’s first ever winner of the title reaching the final for the second time and Golan, the highest-ranked Spaniard of all-time, marking his 10th appearance in the event.

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Serme went on to finish as runner-up in the season-ending PSA World Tour Finals championship after a revenge win over her British Open victor Nouran Gohar of Egypt.

The WSF Ambassador Programme first visited the Baltic country of Latvia in 2011, followed by a trip to the African countries of Malawi and Namibia, then Panama and Venezuela in 2013, Papua New Guinea in 2014, before focussing on the Balkan region in 2015 with appearances in Serbia, Romania and Croatia.

In 2016, the team visited Dalian and Macau in China. After the 2017 edition was postponed, the WSF team headed to Armenia and Ukraine in 2018. 

Pictures courtesy of WSF and PSA 

WINCHESTER, Ind. – Caleb Armstrong made his first-ever visit to Winchester Speedway Sunday afternoon count in a big way.

By day’s end, Armstrong had not only captured the 40-lap Auto Value Super Sprints feature, he’d also picked up a hefty $8,000 payday for his efforts.

Non-wing sprint cars made their return to Winchester Speedway for the first time in eight years Sunday afternoon. A solid crowd greeted the event that was part of the annual Old Timers Weekend.

Armstrong was the day’s quick qualifier, touring the high-banked half-mile speedway with a lap of 14.475 seconds.

Polesitter Kyle O’Gara got the jump and led the opening seven laps before surrendering the lead to Bobby Santos III. Armstrong, who started eighth, didn’t waste time and seized the lead from Santos on lap 19.

Once he was out in front, Armstrong never looked back.

Santos, Aaron Pierce, and Jacob Wilson contested a furious battle for second place While Armstrong built up a sizeable lead. At the checkered flag Wilson claimed second followed by Santos, Pierce, and Shane Cottle rounding out the top five.

The 40-lap race went caution free and was completed in 10 minutes, 31 seconds.

In victory lane Armstrong explained how special the Winchester Speedway win was for him.

“Man, this is awesome,” Armstrong said. “A lot of guys have run here, and I always wanted to come here since I was a little kid. USAC quit running here before I turned 16. I never thought I’d get to run here. Then they announced this race. It was cool to come here and race, and awesome to win here my first time.”

The newcomer was fast right out of the box and explained why he was successful in his maiden Winchester Speedway visit.

“My right foot. You just gotta hammer down here,” noted Armstrong. “This place is fast. I feel more comfortable the heavier I am with the throttle here. I also got a good crew chief in Kevin Besecker. We had this thing fast from the get-go. It was on rails. Santos was difficult get around because he had so much speed. I finally crossed him over coming out of four and got around him.

“I was hoping for no cautions the rest of the way,” Armstrong added. “It surprisingly went that way and we stayed out front.”

The finish:

Caleb Armstrong, Jacob Wilson, Bobby Santos III, Aaron Pierce, Shane Cottle, Kyle O’Gara, Tyler Roahrig, Tony Main, Christian Koehler, Brian Vaughn, Ronnie Gardner, Johnny Petrozelle, Tom Geren, Chris Randolph, Doug Dietsch, Joe Ligouri.

SONOMA, Calif. – On a weekend where Toyota Racing Development celebrated its 40th anniversary, Toyota Camrys ruled the roost at Sonoma Raceway, but none was stronger than Martin Truex Jr.

Truex and crew chief Cole Pearn used stellar pit strategy to grab the lead at the start of the final stage in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, then never relinquished command en route to his fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the year and second in a row at the Northern California road course.

The Mayetta, N.J., native hit pit road just before the end of each of the first two stages, giving him track position at the start of both the second and third stages when those ahead of him got their service.

Those moves made all the difference, as Truex led three times for a race-high 59 laps before holding off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch in the closing moments.

“That was just digging down deep, trying to be smooth and hitting my marks,” noted Truex, whose win was his third overall at Sonoma. “Luckily, I was able to have a big enough gap where I could settle in and not feel too much pressure. It was definitely difficult, though. That was the longest run of the race there at the end for us on tires. It felt terrible the last 20 laps, and the last 10 (laps), it was like we were on ice – there was no grip anywhere.

“This group, man, they’re unbelievable,” Truex added. “What a season we’ve turned this into. Hopefully we can keep this going.”

Polesitter William Byron and Denny Hamlin won the first two stages on Sunday, but it was Truex’s pit stop coming to two to go in second stage that gave him the lead when those who stayed out to earn stage points came in for service under caution on lap 42.

From there, Truex held serve out front until making his final pit stop with 27 to go, handing the point to Busch for three laps as the 2015 champion and two-time Sonoma winner played the strategy of having slightly fresher tires in the final laps in hopes of running Truex down.

It nearly worked, too, as Busch carved an eight-second advantage for Truex down to just over a second inside of 10 laps to go, but could get no closer despite lap traffic that impeded Truex down the stretch.

Busch ultimately finished second, 1.861 seconds adrift, and noted after the race that he used a little too much trying to catch Truex – exactly what Pearn was hoping would happen after Truex’s final pit stop.

“Any time I had to lean on the left rear, I just didn’t have the drive that I needed,” noted Busch. “I tried to hold on to it, trying to save it. I knew that was going to be our problem. That was our problem all day long. When you get closer, you’re like, ‘Okay, I can get him, so I’d better go and pounce on him fast, so that he doesn’t have the time to pick up the pace.’ It didn’t work, though.

“He was obviously saving a lot,” Busch added. “I knew he was going to be saving a lot and probably have enough to be able to hold us off, and I was right. I still tried everything I could to get there and ran really hard. … It sucks to finish second to a teammate, but it’s good for the company.”

Truex and Busch were so dominant on Sunday, they finished more than 33 seconds clear of third-place Ryan Blaney.

Behind Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto charged through traffic to earn a career-best fourth-place finish for Leavine Family Racing, sporting a throwback paint scheme in honor of Darrell Waltrip, who called his final race in the FOX Sports broadcast booth on Sunday at Sonoma.

Denny Hamlin crossed fifth to give Toyota four of the top five finishing positions. Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola and Kyle Larson completed the top 10.

Larson’s run on Sunday was his best-career Sonoma finish. The California native has won the last three poles at the 12-turn road course, but has yet to find victory lane.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

NORWALK, Ohio – Former champion Khalid alBalooshi raced to his first victory of the year during E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service action on Sunday at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

The series was presented by Plochman’s Mustard in Norwalk, and it marked the eighth of 12 races during the 2019 season.

In the final round against Jose Gonzalez, who won last weekend in Bristol, alBalooshi powered to a run of 5.765-seconds at 259.01 mph in his turbocharged Bahrain 1 Racing Camaro to beat Gonzalez’s 5.801 at 258.81.

It marks the second win in Norwalk for alBalooshi, with his first coming in Top Fuel. The victory is also the fifth in alBalooshi’s standout Pro Mod career.

“The big thing for me today was when I won the first round,” alBalooshi said. “When I got to the second round, I thought the door was open for us. We’ve been struggling a lot, but I feel like we’re heading in the right direction now. When I got to the final round, I just kept telling myself I needed to win a race.

“This was a way different feeling for me, but I’m just happy I got the win.”

alBalooshi picked up wins against Todd Tutterow, No. 1 qualifier Mike Castellana and three-time world champion Rickie Smith to reach the final round.

Gonzalez beat Doug Winters, Brandon Snider and point leader Stevie “Fast” Jackson to reach his second-straight final round and fifth in his career.

NORWALK, Ohio – Bob Tasca III picked up back-to-back Funny Car wins for the first time in his career on Sunday during the 13th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Chris McGaha (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also winners at the 12th of 24 events during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

Tasca, who won for the first time in nearly seven years last weekend in Bristol, waited just seven days to pick up his next victory, making it two in a row by going 4.383-seconds at 245.09 mph in the final round in his Motorcraft/Tasca Parts Ford Shelby Mustang.

It is the sixth career win for Tasca, who reached his 14th career final round with wins against Matt Hagan, Paul Lee and John Force before knocking off Jack Beckman for the victory.

“I worked a lot of years to get to this place and there were days I never thought I would get back here, but I never gave up and I thank the people that never gave up on me,” Tasca said. “I always knew if I could get the right car under me we could do great things.

“I woke up this morning and was as confident as I ever was, and when you make four runs in the 3.00s in very challenging conditions, there was no reason why we couldn’t have won,” Tasca added. “I’m glad we got it done.”

Beckman, who slowed to an 11.764 at 77.85 in the finals, knocked off Jonnie Lindberg, Shawn Langdon and Tommy Johnson Jr. to reach his 59th final round.

In Top Fuel, defending world champ and current points leader Torrence continued his dominant stretch, powering to his sixth win in the last seven races and 33rd in his career with a run of 3.832 at 323.27 in his Capco Contractors dragster.

Torrence beat Pat Dakin’s 3.909 at 301.40. The Texan, who was nominated last week for Best Driver at the 2019 ESPY Awards, reached his seventh straight final round by beating Jordan Vandergriff, Doug Kalitta and Brittany Force.

Sunday’s semifinal win gave Torrence his 300th career round win.

“Some days you come out here and you just feel really on top of your game and some days you’re a little slower and today was one of those slow days,” said Torrence, who won for the second time in Norwalk. “But my guys had my back and we went down the track four laps in a row. This is completely a team sport and without those guys working on the car, it’s nothing. I’m just proud to drive it.”

Dakin, who advanced to his first final round since 1998 and was looking for his first Top Fuel victory since 1973, reached the finals after beating Mike Salinas, Terry McMillen and Leah Pritchett.

Pro Stock’s McGaha picked up his first win of 2019 and eighth in his career with his winning run of 6.620 at 210.11 in his Harlow Sammons Chevrolet Camaro to beat Alex Laughlin’s 6.668 at 208.75.

McGaha reached his 11th final round thanks to wins against Wally Stroupe, Greg Anderson and points leader Bo Butner.

“We just kept taking the same car up there all four rounds,” McGaha said. “I had a bad light in the first round and in the second round, I was a little better on the tree. I botched the burnout really bad in the semifinals and I’m sure everybody thought we were done, but next thing you now we let it rip and won that round.”

Laughlin earned a berth in his fifth final round by topping Rodger Brogdon, Jason Line and Jeg Coughlin.

Five-time Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion and points leader Hines rolled to his fifth win of the season and class-best 53rd career win, going 6.895 at 196.99 on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to beat teammate Eddie Krawiec’s 6.967 at 196.64.

It was the 26th time the standout teammates have met in the final round, with Hines winning for the 12th time.

Hines’ day started with round wins against Marc Ingwersen, Angelle Sampey and defending world champion Matt Smith, while Krawiec reached the final round for the 83rd time by knocking off Michael Ray, John Hall and Scotty Pollacheck.

“We had different conditions today than the rest of the week, but for some reason my bike tends to work well on a greasy track,” said Hines, who won for the fifth time in Norwalk. “The competition is tough and you have to earn it each round. Our guys do a great job making sure we have phenomenal motorcycles.

“(Racing Krawiec) has brought out the best in both of us. That’s probably why we have as many wins as we have. We push each other to be that much better.”

LOUDON, N.H. – Eddie MacDonald barely held off a hard-charging Mike Hopkins to win Sunday’s 50-lap Pro All Stars Series super late model main event, the headliner of the third annual New England Short Track Showdown at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

For MacDonald it was his 11th win at the Magic Mile, including scores in both PASS super late model races ever contested at the 1.058-mile oval.

He beat Hopkins to the line by maybe a foot, or .026 seconds according to electronic scoring, aboard his Hancock Electric-Grimm Construction No. 17.

Hopkins, a winner at the three-quarter-mile Richmond Raceway in Virginia to open the Pro All Stars Series season, solidified his position atop the Pro All Stars Series national standings with his runner-up finish.

Derek Griffith, the defending PASS Super Late Model national champion, swapped positions in front of the pack with both MacDonald and Hopkins before settling for a third-place finish, following up his win in the previous week’s race at Speedway 95 and injecting the LCM Motorsports operation right back into the PASS North title chase.

Canadian teenager Austin MacDonald posted an impressive fourth-place finish in his New Hampshire Motor Speedway debut, while five-time PASS national champion Ben Rowe rebounded with a top-five finish after nearly slapping the wall during qualifying.

Ryan Kuhn just missed out on a top-five finish, crossing sixth, while Alan Tardiff, DJ Shaw, Reid Lanpher and Johnny Clark rounded out the top 10.

The finish:

Eddie MacDonald, Mike Hopkins, Derek Griffith, Austin MacDonald, Ben Rowe, Ryan Kuhn, Alan Tardiff, DJ Shaw, Reid Lanpher, Johnny Clark, Mike Rowe, Dillon Moltz, Brandon Barker, Cory Casagrande, Nick Sweet, Jake Johnson, Bryan Kruczek, Bobby Therrien, Devin O’Connell, Gabe Brown, Travis Benjamin, Evan Hallstrom, Mike Scorzelli, Bill Penfold, Garrett Hall, Ray Christian III, Jon Lowinski-Loh, Nick Lascoula, Derek Ramstrom.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- With labor talks having already begun on an informal basis, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and union chief Don Fehr are in favor of rebooting the World Cup of Hockey tournament and holding it every four years.

The stumbling block to laying out a long-term calendar of international competition, however, revolves around the hot-button topic of the NHL competing at the Winter Olympics after skipping out on South Korea last year.

"One of the things I hope we will have is an agreement to establish the long-term schedule for international events which would include World Cups of Hockey,'' said Fehr, stressing the plural "Cups'' during an interview with The Associated Press at the league's draft festivities in Vancouver, British Columbia, this past weekend. "That's a stand-alone event. It should not be seen as competing with or replacing the Olympics. It can be done.''

Bettman is on board when it comes to the World Cup.

"We think that's a great event and it's something we've been trying to work out for more than two years,'' he said. "We're all in favor of setting an international calendar, and it takes two to tango, so to speak.''

There's a caveat, of course, and the reason why the two sides aren't tangoing just yet.

"We think the World Cup of Hockey can be a wonderful event, particularly if we don't go to the Olympics,'' Bettman said.

Though resolving a way to reduce the percentage of players' salaries being held back annually in an escrow fund is the NHL Players' Association's most pressing concern with the collective bargaining agreement, international competition is also on the list. And that's where the World Cup -- revived in 2016 -- and Olympic Games participation will play a role once formal negotiations begin this summer leading up to September deadlines in which either side can choose to opt out and terminate the current CBA by the fall of 2020.

The owners have until Sept. 1 and players on Sept. 15 to reach their decisions and set the clock ticking toward another potential work stoppage.

"There have been a series of discussions. I don't think I would call them formal negotiations yet,'' Fehr said. "And if your next question's going to be how it's going to end up, I'm going to tell you, ask me in the middle of August because I don't know yet.''

Players are unhappy with the league's decision to skip the most recent Winter Games after having participated in the previous five. Shutting down the regular season for two weeks is an issue for owners, as was the time difference regarding South Korea, with games being played in the early morning for North American audiences.

The union sides with the league involving other issues regarding Olympic participation such as players' medical insurance coverage and marketing rights. None of those apply when it comes to the World Cup because it's jointly controlled by the league and union, with both sides splitting the revenue.

The World Cup's return was greeted with a tremendous amount of fanfare when Bettman and Fehr shared the podium at the 2015 All-Star game festivities in Columbus, Ohio, to announce the eight-team event would be held in Toronto the following year.

There was even discussion -- but no resolution -- of having it held every four years. The World Cup was previously played in 1996 and 2004, and succeeded the Canada Cup, which was held five times from 1976-91.

Speaking only for himself and not the union, Fehr said he would prefer the NHL compete at the Olympics and then have the World Cup held every four years -- with two years separating the events.

"If it was up to me, I'd do it all sooner rather than later, but we'll see,'' Fehr said. "The question is, can we get the agreement on all the intervening pieces.''

Fehr noted the union and NHL can't resolve the Olympic participation question alone in labor talks because outstanding issues must also be negotiated with the International Ice Hockey Federation and International Olympic Committee.

Bettman doesn't see why the two sides can't reach a deal on the World Cup, given they're both in favor.

"Yes, so it should get done,'' Bettman said. "We're going to ultimately come together and figure out something that everybody's comfortable with.''