Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	THE PAN PACIFIC HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	02/10/89 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE OPENING OF THE WORLD OPEN 
			SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIP 




 The President of The Malaysian Squash
     Racquet Association;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
    I  would like to thank the organisers for giving me the
honour  to  address  this  gathering  and  to  officiate the
opening of this World Open Squash Championship.   It is with
great pleasure that I bid 'selamat datang'  to  all  foreign
officials and players.
2.   I  take  this  opportunity  to  thank the International
Squash Federation for choosing Kuala Lumpur as the venue  of
this  Championship.  I am confident that the organisers, the
Malaysian Squash Racquet Association, is capable of ensuring
the success of this Championship, even though  this  is  the
first  time it is  hosting  a  squash  competition  of  this
stature.
Ladies and gentlemen,
3.   In the past Malaysia has  hosted  a  few  world  sports
championships,  including  those  for  badminton and hockey.
Indeed it is  Malaysia's  hope  to  host more world-level or
international sports championships  in  the  future.    This
World Open Squash Championship, hopefully, will be a prelude
for  Malaysia  to  host  more  of  such championships in the
future.
4.   The Malaysian Government is supportive  of  all  sports
and  encourages  local sports organisations to bid for world
or international sports championships to  be  held  in  this
country.    There is no doubt that such championship  events
will  stimulate greater  participative interest  and improve
the  standards of the particular game  and sports generally.
It  will of course make Malaysia  better known in the sports
world where the number of players  and  spectators  are huge
and increasing all the time.
5.   For  a  country  like  Malaysia,  this  is   important.
Besides, competitive sports  at the international level help
foster friendly relationship between individuals and between
countries.  Even countries at war are known to forget  their
enmity  during sports.   Sportsmen  may  not  be consciously
working  at  it  but  they  do  contribute  a  fair   amount
towards  world peace.  One must not forget  that  it   was a
game of ping-pong which ended some 25 years of confrontation
between  the  United  States and China.  As a politician and
pacifist I would like to say long live ping-pong.    I  hope
that  squash   will  likewise  be   a  breaker  of  ice   in
international  relations.  How  much more peaceful the world
would be if disputes between  nations  are  settled  in  the
playing fields.
Ladies and gentlemen,
6.   We  are  fortunate  that besides the Government, sports
associations and private organisations have funnelled  their
energies  and  finances  to  upgrade  Malaysian sports.  The
latest move is  the  establishment  of  The  Foundation  for
Malaysian Sporting Excellence.  I take this  opportunity  to
congratulate those concerned in sponsoring and  establishing
The Foundation.  The  Government for its part will look into
more  support   for   sports   generally   and   will   make
international competitions  held  here  more  attractive  to
participants from abroad  and  locally. The Government wants
to be quite sporting about sports.
Ladies and gentlemen,
7.   I  am indeed delighted that Malaysia has been entrusted
with this World Open Squash Championship.  I also  hope  our
foreign  visitors  will  find  time to visit and get to know
this country while here.
8.  Lastly,    I      trust        that      the      spirit
of        sportsmanship      will      prevail    at    this
Championship.  It is now my pleasure to  officially  declare
open this World Open Squash Championship.