Squash World Cup 2023: India to face Hong Kong in campaign opener

With the season-ending PSA World Tour finals scheduled in Cairo, Egypt, on June 20, the top players have decided to give the World Cup a miss.

“There is not much room for errors,” Joshna Chinappa said about the new format of the Squash World Cup. | Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar;Ritu Raj Konwar

The fourth edition of the Squash World Cup, a mixed team competition, will be played from June 13–17 at the all-glass show court inside the Express Avenue Mall in Chennai. The last edition was also held in Chennai in 2011.

With the season-ending PSA World Tour finals scheduled in Cairo, Egypt, on June 20, the top players have decided to give the World Cup a miss.

Each match will be played to the best-of-five games, each to seven points (it’s 11 points in general), even if tied at 6-6. In a tie, there will be four matches wherein the winner of the match between the top seeds of opposing teams will get two points, and the contest between the second seeds will get one.

In the event of a draw, the winning team will be decided by the greater positive difference between games won and lost.

The eight teams—Egypt, India, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, Australia, and Colombia—have some good competitive players inside the world’s top 100. Egypt is the top seed, while India is seeded second. Pitted in Group B, India’s toughest challenge will come from Japan, which has in its ranks Satomi Watanabe, ranked World No. 18 in the women’s section, and solid players in Ryunosuke Tsukue and Tomotake Endo (men).

Fun and exciting

India’s Saurav Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa, and Abhay Singh felt the new format with seven points was like a lottery, and upsets would always be around the corner.

“The new point system favours both players,” said Joshna, India’s best women’s player. “There is not much room for errors. Everybody will be more aggressive, but it will be fun and exciting.”

Abhay, India’s rising star, said “the seven-point thing might be a bit tricky.” Saurav, World No. 17, felt the format would be a “bit alien” to all the teams, and the earlier they adapt, the better.

India will face Hong Kong (the other teams are Japan and South Africa) in its first group match on Tuesday.