CHENNAI: The three-day World Squash Federation conference and AGM here has been a big boost for India. The Indian Squash Federation’s infrastructure and its organisational skills have impressed the world body and its president Zena Wooldridge, who informed that the revamped squash World Cup in 2023 will be held in Chennai. She also said that it will be followed by a world event. She was optimistic that the city could host the 2025 edition of the World Cup too. ‘’We have got the support to bring the new World Cup to Chennai. The World Cup was previously held in 2011. It hasn’t been hosted since then. It will be a revamped one and it will most likely be a mixed team event. We have not decided on the qualification criteria as of now,” said Zena on the sidelines of the event.
‘’After a three-year break due to Covid, this conference and AGM have been critically important. It has helped in bringing the WSF family back together in person and we are most appreciative of the hospitality and generous support of the SRFI for hosting us in Chennai. We look forward to our renewed collaboration to support a transformation of our sport over the next few years. India is both an important territory and valued partner of the World Squash Federation. With a strong track record of supporting the WSF and delivering some memorable world events,’’ she added in praise of the city which she was visiting for the fourth time.
Several attempts in the past to make squash an Olympic sport had been futile. There are talks that the world body has been trying to push squash to be included in the 2028 Olympics. ‘’We are one of the shortlist of nine. We have a chance, we have made a good submission. Being in the shortlist of nine is itself an achievement in itself,” she said.
The three-day conference and AGM of WSF saw new Board Members being elected. Several former players and India’s Debendranath Sarangi too got extensions. ‘’Debendranath Sarangi is president of the India board (SRFI). So he’s coming back for his second term of office. He’s done two years and he’ll do another four years. The other board members are Pablo Serna from Columbia, Karim Darwish, a former World World Champion from Egypt. Susan Devoy is from New Zealand,’’ informed Zena.
Zena Wooldridge insisted that the performance of Indian players this year was a good sign for the sport. ‘’In the world doubles championship in Glasgow, India won its first two WC titles, in women’s doubles and mixed doubles. That was really exciting as it gave the sport a lot of profile in India. Then Saurav Ghosal winning a bronze at the Commonwealth Games too was good. India is really important market for us because it’s growing. India has massive potential for sport,” she said.
‘’We have launched our own OTT platform. We have at the moment squash TV, they are doing a good job in terms of quality. Quality of court, lighting, it is really good, we can still do some production enhancements,’’ signed off Zena.