Squash is one of the 5 new sports which will be part of LA 2028 Olympics schedule. So, we kick-off our LA 2028 Olympic cycle by first understanding Squash as a sport.

History of Squash

Squash was invented in Britain in early 19th century. It has been part of the Asian Games since 1986 and part of the Commonwealth Games since 1998. It will debut at the Olympics in 2028. World Squash Federation (WSF) is the governing body of the sport and it organizes the PSA World Tour.

Equipment & Court

Squash is played with a racquet that measures 686mm long and 215mm wide and a rubber balls which have varying density, speed and bounce. Squash is played in a rectangular court. The court is a rectangular surface (9.75mx6.4m in dimension for singles and 13.72mx7.62m for doubles) enclosed by four walls. The wall at the back is called the back wall while the one on the front is called the front wall. The two walls on either side are side walls.

Rules of the Game!

Squash is played in a best of 5 games format. Winner of a game is the first to 11 points. Squash is played in various formats – Singles, Mixed Doubles and Team. At LA 2028, only Men’s & Women’s Singles will take place.

Here is a nice crisp video explaining rules of Squash!

The PSA World Tour

The World Squash tour is divided into 3 broad categories:

World Tour: This is the highest level. It has 6 level of tournaments – Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Copper. The World Championship and World Tour finals are the marquee events on the tour.

Challenger Tour: The challenger tour has events under 5 categories – Challenger 15, Challenger 12, Challenger 9, Challenger 6, Challenger 3

Satellite Tour: This consists of the regional and respective national championships.

The World Tour starts in August and ends in July next year. Ranking points are awarded at all events.

Indian Players & their current rankings

Here are the top ranked Indian players (ranking as on 25 Aug 2024)

Men’s

Ramit Tandon – World Rank 34
Velavan Senthilkumar – World Rank 55
Abhay Singh – World Rank 66

Women’s

Akansha Salunkhe – World Rank 75
Anahat Singh – World Rank 113
Tanvi Khanna – World Rank 121

We will be following these athletes over the course of next 4 years on their journey towards LA 2028.