Joe Chapman, the Virgin Island’s number one ranked squash player, will turn professional on June 1.
Mr. Chapman, in his final three weeks as a senior at the University of Rochester in New York, is currently ranked 389th in the world and his goal over the next two years is to make the top 100.
In June, he will compete in two tournaments — the PSA BVI National Closed Squash Championships on June 11-15 and the PSA BVI Open Squash Championships on June 22–23. A win in the closed tournament and a good showing in the open event could place Mr. Chapman around 250th, which would give him access to almost any professional tournament.
As Mr. Chapman closes his collgiate career with a top-16 finish in squash, he will be preparing for turning professional by entering the PSA Rochester Pro-Am, where he has progressed into the main draw with wins over Pakistan’s Shahjahan Khan, 12-10, 11-6 and 14-12 and Zambia’s number one player Patrick Chifunda ranked 170th in the world, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8 and 11-3.
In the third round, Mr. Chapman came up against the tournament winner Egyptian Ali Farag and went down fighting having taken the first game 7-11, 11-7, 11-3 and 11-6.
This will be Mr. Chapman’s last college squash tournament before returning to the VI to train on May 22 with coach Joe Faragher-Kneipp.
To find out more about Mr. Chapman visit his website at: http://www.joechapmansquash.com/index.html
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