6 reasons why squash could be India's next medal winning sport

Squash in recent times has brought several laurels in many international events. The latest triumph came at the South Asian Games that were held in Guwahati and Shillong when Joshna Chinappa won the Gold in the Women's Singles event and also won the yellow medal in the Men's and Women's Team event.The recent success in the sport provides us with reasons to be optimistic for the future and so, here are 6 reasons why squash could be India's next medal winning sport.

#1 Presence of a World Class academy

India are lucky to have a world-class facility like the Indian Squash Academy

A country is identified in any sport by its ability to produce top notch players. To cite an example, China is known globally as one of the powerhouses in badminton for its ability to churn out quality players consistently.

In order to produce such talents, one needs a fully-working academy equipped with the best facilities and squash in India is fortunate to have such a facility in Chennai.

The Indian Squash Academy is a state-of-the-art facility, comprising of 4 glass courts and is a place to be for every budding squash player.

In addition to the facilities, the academy also has two top-notch coaches- Major Maniam, whose is a consultant coach for the Squash Rackets Federation of India(SRFI) and is presently the Director of Coaching for the World Squash Federation(WSF).

Along with Mr.Maniam, there is also former India player and national coach Cyrus Poncha, who also coaches at this facility.

#2 Very active and well planned junior circuit

A well-structured junior program has meant the likes of Velavan Senthilkumar have had a platform to show their skills

One of the key departments where every country tends to give a lot of emphasis and rightly too is the junior programme. It's an aspect that generates a lot of hype with several experts and players talking about it at various forums

The SRFI have ensured that kids at very age-group levels- both boys and girls- have got the opportunity to showcase their talent across various competitions in different parts. of the country.

Add to that, the conduction of the Nationals in every age group also gives a good idea of the upcoming talent in all categories and not just a solitary one.

#3 Exposure to international tournaments

The other imperative feature is the fact that the juniors also get to play in competitions overseas, which means that as they make further strides in their career, they will have a chance to look back at prior experiences in overseas competitions and look to make the same mistakes the next time around.

Earlier this month, 17-year-old Abhay Singh made it to the finals of the Doha Open and at the end of last year, Neel Joshi clinched the bronze medal at the British Junior Open.

These results will serve as not just a boost for the players but for many supporters of Indian squash, who will certainly have a reason to feel optimistic about the future talent emerging from the country.

#4 Proactive federation

The SRFI deserves credit for looking to constantly change and evolve

Sometimes, in order to succeed, you require not just the facilities and the training equipment, but you need a group of administrators who are available at all times to cater to the needs of the players.

In this regard, the SRFI have ensured that the players play more tournaments on a consistent basis, they have also looked the development of more home-grown coaches and have moved on with evolving times with the introduction of Ipad scoring that provides a lot of more than just the normal score update for fans.

In order to bring more people into the sport, the federation are also looking to start a Squash League as well as a separate channel that exclusively covers the sport.

#5 Presence of top players in the Top 20 of the rankings

The presence of three Indian players in the Top 20 has most certainly helped motivate a lot of junior players

Any sport requires heroes for the upcoming generation to look up to and Indian squash is fortunate that in Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Palikal and Saurav Ghosal who have not just done well on the international circuit but have been able to maintain a good ranking for a long time, which is an indication of their consistency.

Joshna is presently the highest ranked Indian player at 14th Dipika, who for a long time was India’s highest ranked player, is 18th while Ghosal is ranked 19th in the world and for a young player coming up the presence of three players in the Top 20 of the world is certainly a reason to feel motivated to take up the sport and pursue it as a career option.

#6 Importance from the top as well

Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa with their Gold medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games

The Government of India considers any sport whose players have won medals at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Olympics as a part of its ‘priority’ list. Saurav Ghosal’s bronze medal win at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha not just gave the rest the confidence and belief to scale further heights, but also ensured that the top authorities started to pay more attention to the sport by including it on its ‘priority’ list.

Indian squash since Ghosal’s exploits in Qatar then has seen many more glorious days like at the 2014 Commonwealth Games when Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal won the Gold in the Women’s Doubles event and later that year, Ghosal won his second Asiad medal in the Men’s Singles, this time, a Silver at Incheon and was part of the team, along with Harinder Pal Sandhu, Kush Kumar and Mahesh Mangaonkar that won the Gold.

Dipika also clinched the bronze in the Women’s Singles event and was part of the team, along with Joshna, Anaka Alankamony and Aparajitha Balamurukan that won the Silver medal in the team event.

The significance of being a part of the priority list is that those sports receive funds from the government for development at the grass root level and so squash certainly has the backing from some of the top authorities to become a sport to reckon with in the future as well.