XN000022-1985-03-17 — Page 16

THIS REPRESENTS A FIVEFOLD INCREASE OVER THE FIGURES .CORDED IN THE 1980/8* FINANCIAL YEAR, WHEN ONLY 21 900 LAYERS MADE USE OF THE COUNCIL'S SIX SQUASH COURTS.

VIRTUALLY ALL URBAN COUNCIL SQUASH COURTS ARE FULLY USED DURING WEEKENDS, SUNDAYS AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS. EVEN THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, THE USAGE RATE IS AS HIGH AS 80 PER CENT.

A SPOKESMAN FOR THE URBAN COUNCIL SAID TODAY THAT LOCAL SQUASH ENTHUSIASTS NEED NOT WORRY ABOUT MISSING SOME OF THE ACTION FOR WANT OF A COURT TO PLAY IN AS 39 AUDITIONAL SQUASH COURTS WILL BE COMPLETED OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS TO MEET THE GROWING DEMAND FOR SUCH FACILITIES.

+ THE LARGEST SQUASH CENTRE, ESTIMATED TO COST ABOUT $22 MILLION, WILL BE LOCATED AT A 2 000 SQUARE-METRE SITE ACING COTTON TREE DRIVE IN VICTORIA BARRACKS,+ HE SAID.

+WHEN COMPLETED IN MID-1986, THE TWO-STOREY SQUASH CENTRS WILL HOUSE 18 COURTS, ONE OF WHICH WILL BE USED AS AN EXHIBITION COURT FOR MAJOR TOURNAMENTS.

+THE EXHIBITION COURT WILL HAVE GLASS WALLS ON THREE SIDES AND A STAND FOR SOME 350 SPECTATORS. IT WILL BE THE FIRST OF ITS KIND IN HONG KONG AND THE SECOND IN ASIA AFTER BRUNEI.+

THE SPOKESMAN ALSO NOTED THAT THE COUNCIL IS PLANNING TO BUILD UP TO 200 SQUASH COURTS IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS IN LINE WITH THE STANDARD PROVISION OF ONE SQUASH COURT TO 10 DO PEOPLE AS LAID DOWN IN THE HONG KONG PLANNING STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES.

AS PROPER VENTILATION IS NEEDED FOR THIS

HIGHL Y-VIGOROUS GAME, ALL FUTURE SQUASH COURTS TO BE BUILT BY THE COUNCIL WILL BE AIR-CONDITIONED. MEANWHILE, PLANS ARE ALREADY UNDERWAY TO AIR-CONDITION THE EXISTING ONES.

AT PRESENT, CHARGES FOR AN AIR-CONDITIONED COURT ARE

48 PER HALF-AN-HOUR SESSION AND $12 PER SESSION.

LOOKING BACK ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPORT IN THE TERRITORY, THE SPOKESMAN SAID SQUASH WAS FIRST INTRODUCED TO THE LOCAL CHINESE COMMUNITY IN 1960 WHEN THE FIRST TWO SQUASH COURTS WERE BUILT IN VICTORIA PARK.

IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE 70S WHEN MORE URBAN COUNCIL FACILITIES WERE PROVIDED THAT SQUASH BECAME MORE POPULAR AMONG THE LOCAL CHINESE COMMUNITY.

+TODAY, SQUASH IS REALLY CATCHING ON IN HONG KONG BECAUSE THE SPORT, BEING TIME AND SPACE EFFICIENT, SUITS THE TASTE OF LOCAL SPORT ENTHUSIASTS, SAID THE SPOKESMAN.

/+EVEN SINCE