London, July 11, 2014: Permanent Glass Court, Pioneering German manufacturer ASB has taken a major step forward in squash court design with the launch of its revolutionary new ASB PermanentGlassCourt this month in Hong Kong.
Three ASB PermanentGlassCourts have been installed at the Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC) where more than 750 players are currently competing in the WSF World Masters Squash Championships.
The new ASB PermanentGlassCourt (featured pictured) is the maintenance-free squash court – which boasts almost the same playing characteristics of the world-famous ASB ShowGlassCourt, as used recently at the 2013 PSA World Championship in Manchester, England, and which will be the focus of the Squash competition at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland later this month.
The court walls are made from white coated glass with a high quality matt finish. The glass is non see-through and, thanks to the matt finish, shows no reflections. The new walls can be cleaned with common glass cleaning products and ball marks are removed at a stroke.
The glass panels can be mounted onto a steel or an all-glass structure and offer the same playing characteristics as the world’s most used event court, the ASB ShowGlassCourt. The walls have a great sound and with the other high quality components like the healthy ASB SportsFloor 65 and the two choices of glass back walls offer one of the best playing environments for players of all standards.
“This innovation really comes from the ASB GlassFloor, the most advanced flooring system in the world, where we worked long to find the right non-reflective finish for the surface,” explained ASB CEO Christof Babinsky, who was heavily involved in the design of the new court.
“This is important as the player should not be distracted by reflections and hot spots from the light sources. This surface offers exactly this in combination with the guarantee to last, in any climate or condition – and it looks fantastic!”
Gregory Gaultier, the world No1 from France, added: “As all the major tournaments around the world now feature all-glass showcourts, it will be a great boost to have regular access to courts like the ASB PermanentGlassCourts which have similar playing characteristics. This is a significant breakthrough by ASB.”
Long-time ASB client Hong Kong Football Club, one of the most prestigious clubs in Hong Kong and indeed around the world, decided to upgrade its courts in readiness for the 2014 World Masters.
After several discussions and proposals to achieve their aim, the HKFC decided to take its facility to a completely new level by replacing three classic courts with three ASB PermanentGlassCourts.
“HKFC has always been conscious about the appearance of their courts, cleaning them more than once per week,” said Till Jonuleit, ASB Sales manager for Asia. “With the World Masters coming up, they were looking for a premium solution. Indeed, these courts have been designed because of the demands of the HKFC – we were aiming for excellent-looking courts, easy to maintain that would last for a very long time without any signs of age.”
After that decision was made, there was only one tricky part left to be solved: the new glass courts would need to fit exactly into the space where the previous ASB System100 courts used to be.
Toni Kaiser, head of the technical glass department, and his team came up with a solution that solved this issue. 12mm non-reflective glass panels were mounted onto a steel frame with a total width of less than 100mm. The overall schedule was tight but four ASB installers managed to install the courts just in time for the PSA and WSA tournaments which were staged at the club in May.
All players really liked the new courts. Rising Egyptian talent Heba El Torky, the world No27 who reached the quarter-finals of the WSA HKFC International, said: “It was a great tournament and honestly I’ve never played on squash courts as good as the ones in your club.”
ASB SystemCourts have proven to be a great choice for ASB customers and, with over 6000 courts installed worldwide, the ASB SystemCourts are the most popular high quality choice.
ASB: ASB SquashCourt is a leader in its market and has to date supplied more than 6,000 squash courts to satisfied customers in 70 countries all over the world. ASB SquashCourts have also worked very closely with the World Squash Federation (WSF), the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and the Women’s Squash Association (WSA) to deliver show glass courts for the most prestigious events all over the world. —- WSF
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