LONDON, April 8: British Open champion David Palmer believes that the title which made him famous is in danger of losing its prestige.

The 25-year-old Australian prefaced his defence of squash’s top event, which starts at Lambs Club in London on Wednesday, with a warning to its organisers.

“The British Open risks losing its status, especially with the pressure of good quality events in the Middle East,” Palmer said.

“I was very disappointed to hear that there were problems with it again because it’s been like that now for three of four years.”

The 72-year-old tournament faced collapse until Mike Corby, a former squash and hockey international and the owner of Lambs Club, helped bail out the British Open with support from Manchester City Council and other sponsors. The event moves to Manchester for the last three days on Saturday.

“We are playing this year for such a small amount of money ($50,000 for the men),” said Palmer. “We were playing for double this amount at the Pakistan Open in Lahore last month, and if the British Open doesn’t get its profile up and increase its prize money it will suffer.

“I want the British Open to remain the best in the world, but it will only take a year or two more of this sort of thing and it may no longer be so.”

The British Open was to have been the first event in a new worldwide circuit of elite tournaments until a multi-million dollar deal involving Fablon, an investment company, and the Eye Group, a promotions company, fell through.

Instead the venerable tournament continues to find itself with a perennial struggle in acquiring sponsorship, in marked contrast to organisers in Egypt, Qatar, and more recently Pakistan, all of whom have come up with solid prize money events on the PSA (men’s) and WISPA (women’s) tours.—Reuters