2020-2021 Milestones

January 25, 2022

2020-2021 Milestones

[Editor’s note: Milestones is our annual survey of deaths, retirements and new facilities or additions/conversions. With the pandemic, this is a two-year survey for the 2020 and 2021 calendar years.]

Deaths

Marwan Mahmoud Abdelnaby
Marwan Mahmoud died in August 2020 at age twenty-four. The Egyptian had starred at Penn and was getting a masters at Boston University.

Bill Broadbent
Bill Broadbent died in September 2021 at the age of seventy. Broadbent was one of the most visionary philathropists in US Squash history, guiding and supporting squash at the junior, high school, collegiate, urban and national level. Read Squash Magazine’s recent profile of Broadbent.

Enzo Corigliano
Enzo Corigliano died in December 2020 at age twenty-three. A New Caledonian, Corigliano reached world No.136 and was a leader on the St. Lawrence varsity team.

Azam Khan
In March 2020 Azam Khan, the last of the first generation of the Khan dynasty, died at the age of ninety-five from Covid-19. Having first played at age twenty-six, Khan won four British Opens and one U.S. Open. He coached at the New Grampians Club in London for a half century.

HRH Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
In April 2021, Prince Philip died at the age of ninety-nine. An active squash player, he was playing squash at Buckingham Palace when Prince Charles was born in 1948. Prince Philip was the patron of England Squash and the Jesters Club.

Malcolm Willstrop
In May 2021, Malcolm Willstrop died at age eighty-three. The legendary coach had mentored thousands of players, including former world No.1s like Cassie Jackman, Lee Beachill, Vanessa Atkinson and his son James.

Retirements

Annie Au

In March 2020 Annie Au retired at age thirty-one. Famously wielding a superb lob, Au reached world No.6 and won seventeen PSA titles.

Leo Au

In June 2020 Leo Au retired at age thirty. He reached world No.20 and won eleven PSA titles. The Au siblings, from Hong Kong, both captured Asian Games gold medals.

Sam Cornett

In April 2020 Sam Cornett retired at age twenty-nine. The Canadian captured thirteen PSA titles and reached world No. 23. She earned a silver medal in singles at the 2011 Pan Am Games.

Ryan Cuskelly

At the Tournament of Champions in January 2020, Ryan Cuskelly retired at age thirty-two. The southpaw won sixteen PSA titles, reached world No.12. and helped Australia finish third in the 2017 World Teams.

Raneem El Welily

In June 2020 Raneem El Welily, world No.1, retired at age thirty-one. The Egyptian spent twenty-three months atop the world rankings and nine years in the Top Ten. One of the smoothest and craftiest players in history, she won the World Juniors twice and the World Championships in 2017, played on four World Team-winning sides and captured twenty-four PSA titles. She made history in September 2015 by becoming the first Arab woman to become world No.1 in any sport when she dethroned Nicol David after David’s unprecedented nine-year run atop the world rankings.

Gregory Gaultier

In October 2021 Greg Gaultier retired at age thirty-eight. The Frenchman spent twenty months total as world No.1, including a stint as the oldest world No.1 ever at age thirty-five. He won forty-four PSA titles, including the 2015 World Championship in Seattle, an emotional moment after he had lost in the finals of the Worlds four previous times. Gaultier, famous for his off-court workout regimen, led France to two silvers in the World Teams and took a gold at the 2013 World Games.

Campbell Grayson

In September 2020 Campbell Grayson retired at age thirty-four. The New Zealander won fourteen PSA titles and reached world No.24.

Victoria Lust

In March 2020 Victoria Lust retired at age thirty. The Englishwoman reached world No.12 and won nine PSA titles.

Cameron Pilley

In December 2019 (after the last Milestones), Cameron Pilley retired at age thirty-seven. The Australian won thirteen titles, reached world No.11 and captured three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.

Simon Rosner

In December 2020 Simon Rosner retired at age thirty-three. The German reached world No.3 and won nine titles, most famously the 2018 Tournament of Champions. He took eleven straight German national titles and a gold medal at the 2017 World Games.

Alison Waters

In December 2021 Alison Waters retired at age thirty-seven. The Englishwoman reached world No.3, won ten PSA titles, made a record ten British national singles finals, winning four times and famously clinched England’s victory in the finals of the 2014 World Teams.

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