High Hopes for a Squash Sunrise to Light The State

The Kerala Squash Rackets Association (KSRA) is hoping to create awareness on the fledgling sport of squash in the state.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  Riding high on the excitement created by the 63rd National Squash Championship 2015 that concluded at the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium here this month, the Kerala Squash Rackets Association (KSRA) is hoping to create awareness on the fledgling sport of squash in the state.

“I hope this tournament would have inspired the youngsters who have been introduced to the sport only a couple of months ago as they saw top players in the country like Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa in close quarters and interacted with them,” said KSRA secretary Anish Mathew.

It was only earlier this year that the previously alien sport of squash was introduced in the state when the Squash Complex in the state capital was opened as part of the 35th National Games.

The facility has been handed over to the Kerala

Police since and a squash academy has been functioning here for the last two months. This was also the first time since 1994 that the senior national championship was held in a different venue other than Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Jaipur.

“Great effort is required in order to promote a sport from the scratch. Minimal awareness of the sport along with lack of infrastructure and investment has thrown plenty of challenges at us,” said Mathew. “In that regard, the interest generated during the National Games and now the nationals has helped our cause,” he added.

The Kerala Police has also been proactive in promoting the sport sending two of their coaches to the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai, where they received expert training to coach 52 Kerala youngsters who are part of the academy here. The Police also plans to assemble a squash team by the end of year.

“What we now need is more infrastructure in the sport to come up across the state, preferable one in Ernakulam and other in a northern district,” said the KSRA secretary. In Thiruvananthapuram, four more squash courts will come up at the Sports Hub in Kariavattom which also  Mathew said that after the successful conduct of the nationals, the association is not going to stay idle.

“We have already requested the Squash Racket Federation of India to allot us the sub-junior and junior nationals to Kerala this year,” he said.

“Our budding players had to compete with seasoned players in the nationals.

But, the age-level championships will be an opportunity for them to compete in a more level playing field,” Mathew added .

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