Ziad Al-Turki admits that he didn't even know what the Professional Squash Association (PSA) was when he first became involved in the professional game; now he's become the man most likely to steer the sport to destinations it has always needed to reach.
The thing is how on earth does the new Chairman of the governing body of the Men’s World Tour find time to attempt this? In addition to revealing what a great deal needs to be done, he is the co-promoter of this week's PSA Super Series Finals and the Vice Chairman of the ATCO Group which is one of the largest companies in Saudi Arabia - operating in port management, marine, industrial, oil and gas services, electrical and construction materials, food and restaurant franchises, insurance, and travel and commercial agencies. That's just some of it.
Ziad is also the founder of the world's richest squash tournament, the $250,000 Saudi International, sponsor of the sport’s most prestigious event, the British Open, and oh yes, he has a family with three children as well.
“You always have a place and time for something you are passionate about,” he explains. “You look at my father. He's in his late 70's and he's very passionate about work, no matter what it is – attending board meetings, sourcing new ventures or visiting projects in remote areas. We just grew up, my brothers and I, in a culture where there is no separation between work and pleasure - pleasure comes from work and work is pleasure.”
Ziad's squash passion was developed when he learned to play in a squash court built by his uncle Abdul Aziz when he was just a small boy, before building his own court and eventually sponsoring Women’s World Tour player Melissa Martin.
Later Ziad's ambitions broadened and he founded the Saudi International, glittering end to the tournament year, not only to develop the World Tour, but to alter his country’s image.
“Once people just thought of Saudi Arabia in terms of oil, but now they think of terrorists,” he says. “But we are twenty-eight million Saudis and the rest of us are not like that. We’ve been victimised by terrorism the same as the rest of the world and targeted by terrorists before September 11th and the attack on the US
Saudi Arabia has a lot to offer: its culturally diverse, has great history and beautiful landscapes. We also have very enthusiastic squash fans and promising juniors,” he explains
However, it took only one tournament for Ziad to realise that something was wrong with the PSA's marketing and now he is doing something about it.
His vision is of a World Tour flowing with a far greater geographic logic and aims to make the Professional Squash Association compete on a world level, by bringing greater professionalism to its stucture. This will be done by standarising every aspect of the major tournaments, so each becomes recognisable as part of an international tour.
"We really didnt have a solid tool to market. We are now closer to launching a new face for the sport that will hopefully put us on par with other major sporst around the world," Ziad says. "You don't have ten or twelve solid tournaments which are crown jewels. We are trying to make something like that.
"Each venue may have its own character, but has to have an identifiable structure to make it clearly a PSA event. A certain look, a certain feel to tie them all together.”
To this end a business consultancy, KHP, who helped shape Formula 1, is creating a blueprint to help the PSA identify its commerical resources. After that a business plan will be made, to clarify where and how the PSA will develop the Men’s World Tour.
It may take a while. It won't be till 2010 that the exploratory process is complete. When it is, Ziad will be on the way to transforming the professional game.