Government grants Hong Kong Squash Open an exemption, players free to visit venue during Covid-19 restrictions
- World’s top squash players return to Hong Kong Open in November after three-year absence, with details confirmed for platinum tournament
- Keeping players in Covid-19 ‘bubble’ no longer required, with exemption allowing them to access playing and training venues immediately after arrival
The world’s top squash players are to return to Hong Kong next month when the city’s renowned tournament goes ahead after a three-year absence.
Plans to stage the Everbright Securities Hong Kong Open, a platinum event on the world circuit, were last month in peril with the government yet to approve it and organisers saying time was running out. But the easing of quarantine rules revived their hopes and details have now been confirmed.
Keeping players in a Covid-19 “bubble” will no longer be required when the event takes place from November 28 to December 4, with the government granting an exemption from the restrictions for incoming travellers to allow them to access playing and training venues immediately after their arrival.
Normally, arrivals would be forbidden to enter sports venues, among other premises, under the “0+3” rules, which entail three days of medical surveillance with limited movement around the city.
The event – the third stop on an Asia leg of the tour, with Singapore and Kuala Lumpur preceding it in November – will be held at the Squash Centre in Central, with a glass court set up at the nearby Hong Kong Park Indoor Sports Centre for the quarter-finals stage.
