WISPA Stars Vie With Putin For Russian Headlines "My heart is crying that more people were not able to come and see world squash stars Sarah and Vanessa in action at our club on the final day of their visit," exclaimed Irina Podubnaya, owner of the Hypersquash Centre in St Petersburg, despite a packed gallery at the five-court club. Australia's five-times world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald and world No5 Vanessa Atkinson, from the Netherlands, were visiting Russia's second largest city as part of a nine-day promotional visit to the country, organised by the Women's International Squash Players' Association. The WISPA visit, arranged in conjunction with the Russian Squash Federation, is the latest initiative in the Association's continuing drive to promote women's squash around the world. Irina's despair was caused both by the decision two weeks earlier to call a four-day national holiday during the visit, as well as a last-minute decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to pay a state visit to the city - causing whole sections of St Petersburg to be blocked off for security reasons! Putin's party were staying at the same hotel as the WISPA group, but the President was unable to fit in a meeting with the WISPA stars! "To have Sarah and Vanessa at our club was the most fantastic honour - we have never seen such high quality squash on our courts and we are so grateful to them for taking time out to visit our club," added Irina at the end-of-visit celebrations. The WISPA stars' exhibition match and those against local players were videod for screening in the club's reception as a permanent reminder of Fitz-Gerald and Atkinson's visit. "The visit will undoubtedly inspire all those who met Sarah and Vanessa - as well as influence others to take up the sport," said the dynamic Podubnaya, who is just days away from giving birth to her second child! "But it will also give a huge boost to the sponsorship potential of our forthcoming fifth St Petersburg Open, which we plan to stage here in September/October. It will be one of the biggest ever events held here, attracting players from all over the Baltic region including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Poland and Bulgaria," Irina added.   HyperSquash Centre owner Irina Podubnaya receives a WISPA memento from Patron Sarah Fitz-Gerald (left) and Vanessa Atkinson (right) The WISPA visit attracted unprecedented media attention for the sport in the region. "Women's Squash Champions Beat Our Best Players" screamed the headline of a prominent news story in the "Comsomolskaya Pravda", a hugely-popular national paper which sells an incredible 35 million copies a day and is a sister publication to the established Pravda newspaper. The report acknowledged that "it was great luck for us to have this visit" and quoted Alexei Severinov: "I played three matches and lost them all." The writer concluded that the essential ingredient for future success for Russia in squash would be for the country "to have more experienced coaches".   Sarah & Vanessa flanked by enthusiasts at the Hypersquash Centre, including Ukraine's St Petersburg Open champion Roman Dolinich (far left) and Russian Champion Alexei Severinov (far right) The region's leading TV network also covered the visit, pointing out the appeal of squash to people of St Petersburg, where the city almost grinds to a halt in the winter when temperatures can reach as low as 40 degrees! While in St Petersburg, Fitz-Gerald and Atkinson were also able to visit one of the city's oldest clubs, the Kosmonavtov Club. The two-court centre was founded in 1997 by enthusiast Pavel Sebirtsev, who discovered the sport when working in Finland. He also helped build a single-court club in the city's main street Nevsky Prospekt which opened two months earlier in August 1997.   Pictured overlooking the two courts at the Kosmonatov Club in St Petersburg are (L to R): nationally ranked player Katya Alexeeva, Sarah, Vanessa and club owner and St Petersburg Squash Federation Presiden Pavel Sebirtsev The two clubs built up a nucleus of the city's earliest players and Sebirtsev is now President of the St Petersburg Squash Federation. "Just seeing the personal enthusiasm which has enabled Pavel to actually build his two courts, allied with the commercial approach of Irina at her centre, makes the whole visit worthwhile," said WISPA Director Andrew Shelley. "These are people desperately striving to develop squash in Russia and, although we can only support in a terribly small way, it is the least that the pro end of the game can do for the future of our sport.   "If only we could help the Pavels and Irinas in so many other countries too." Vanessa (left) and Sarah pictured by the famous Bronze Horseman statue, a monument to Peter the Great, founder of St Petersburg in 1703  The WISPA party now move to Moscow on the second leg of the visit.