Squash firmly in limelight with recent success of Indian players

Just as Joshana Chinappa was getting ready for a tête-à-tête by the bustling squash courts of the Cricket Club of India, a young girl came running up to her for an autograph. Joshana gleefully accepted her request, and scribbled her signature along with the child's name, much to the little one's delight.
"You must be getting that a lot isn't it?" came the question.
"Well, only sometimes," Joshana said with a smile.

Those few seconds not only made the child's day, but also summed up the state of Indian squash.
The sport is at an all-time high in the country in the backdrop of those historic medals at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and Asian Games this year.
It had a lot of firsts for Indian squash: Joshana and Dipika Pallikal bagging the country's first squash medal at the Commonwealth Games with a doubles gold, Saurav Ghosal winning India's maiden men's singles squash medal – a silver — at the Asian Games, the men's team clinching the yellow metal for the first time in the continental games, Pallikal settling for bronze in women's singles, a feat never achieved by an Indian woman squash player before. To add to the variety of historic medals, the women's team also pocketed a silver at the Asiad.
And yet, there is something missing.
Indian squash players are not revered as much as, say, badminton or tennis players. Their wins in the professional circuit are hardly spoken of, and it takes a bagful of historic medals at events like the CWG and Asiad for people to sit up and take notice of our squash players.

OLYMPIC SNUB
Adding to their frustration, the sport lost out on a place for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics to wrestling last year. And deep within, that snub still irks the squash players.
"It's unfortunate," Ghosal says. "I mean we don't really know exactly why we're not in there. I think squash is a fantastic sport. It ticks all the boxes to be at the Olympics. We're still trying and hopefully, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) will see the merit of the sport and put us in at some point."
It does tick all the boxes. Nick Matthew, former British World No. 1, wrote in The Guardian just before the IOC voted on the matter in September 2013: "It meets the Olympic ideals – faster, higher, stronger – and it's gladiatorial, physical and one on one. There really is no hiding place on court and it's a real battle of wits and skill."
Despite that, squash was ignored. It dealt a blow to the players world over, and especially the Indians, who win Olympic medals in a handful of disciplines and this racquet sport would have added to this small list.
"Of course, I would love to be a part of the Olympics," Joshana says. "I think squash is one of the most deserving sports to be at the Olympics. We fit every criteria of what an Olympic sport should be and I think we would be recognised so much more if squash were an Olympic sport.
"We really need to be at the Olympics. Tennis has Grand Slams and all the other pricey tournaments. For us to be in the Olympics would've been that much more special," she adds.

WHAT'S THE MOTIVATION?
Representing one's country at the Olympics is the pinnacle for most sportspersons around the world. Roger Federer still dreams of winning a gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, 17 Grand Slam titles notwithstanding. Usain Bolt plans to retire only after adding to his six Olympic gold medals in 2016. Closer home, MC Mary Kom has already set her sights on the yellow metal in Rio. So have the likes of Sushil Kumar and Saina Nehwal.
Squash players can't have that dream, nor can they live it. They have to wait for another four years to fight for a medal for their country at the CWG and Asian Games. So what keeps them motivated to play a sport like squash?
Yes, they do have the World Open individual championship and the prestigious British Open, but no Indian has managed to conquer these events since Abdul Bari finished runner-up at the latter in 1950. And, like the players themselves say, winning a medal for the country and winning on the professional tour is like chalk and cheese.
Mahesh Mangaonkar, the upcoming squash player from Mumbai, says he plays the sport because it helps him find his inner strength, but also rues the fact that he cannot have a shot at the Olympics till at least 2028.
"Most of the professional athletes train hard all their life just to win a medal at the Olympics. It's bigger than winning a World Open or a British Open," the World No. 49 says.
Joshana says getting fitter and stronger everyday by playing the sport gives her a massive high in itself.
"Squash is my career. I don't know how to do anything else. The motivation is to keep winning medals for the country, having my own personal goals of getting up in the rankings. We don't have the Olympics, so Commonwealth and Asian Games are our Olympics," the World. No 21 adds.

CWG, ASIAD HIGH
They indeed are. That's the reason the likes of Joshana, Dipika and Saurav are still revelling (and signing autographs) on their many a firsts at those Games.
"Oh, it's huge," Saurav says of the Asian Games team gold. "That one moment when I beat Ong Beng Hee on match point (to clinch the medal) is probably the best single moment of my life. I don't think there's another moment which even comes close to it."
Joshana feels her CWG gold with Dipika has managed to get squash into the limelight.
"CWG has all the best players in the world that would play in Olympics, so to win there was a huge deal for us. More importantly, people were watching our matches and they got to know a little bit more what squash is, because no one really watched us play before. So that way a lot of people connected to us and they were rooting for us that much more. I think that made all the difference," she says.

GOLDEN GENERATION?
It did, and terms like 'Golden Girls' started doing the rounds. People called it the golden generation for Indian squash. And why not? These players won medals that one one had even come close since the sport became a part of the CWG and Asiad in 1998.
"I think Saurav, Dipika and Joshana are very popular icons in their own states and also known to a lot of people all over India," says 20 year-old Mahesh. "I look up to them. They have set-up very tough but realistically achievable targets for me in the future."
Do they really believe that they have made this the golden generation for squash in India?
"Yes, I absolutely believe that," says Joshana. "You had Dipika and Saurav in the top 15 probably a month back. We've won medals in CWG and Asian Games which no one has before. I hope the younger generation comes and smashes all these records, to be honest. But right now, this is definitely golden times for Indian squash."
However, Saurav warns these golden times need not necessarily translate into the growth of sport in India.
"I don't think we as players can directly affect the growth of sport. That's more into the administrators' hands. What we can directly affect is the popularity, because that is directly co-related to how well we do. So our responsibility is to do really well and produce unbelievable performances," he says.

WANTED: OLY PUSH
For Mahesh, more youngsters like him will dare to take up the sport professionally if it becomes a part of the Olympics.
"The publicity our current Olympic medallists like Mary Kom and Sushil Kumar have got after they won (an Olympic medal) is impeccable. And I think parents will look at this as a very positive and successful opportunity for their kids and involve them in squash," the Mumbaikar says.
It all comes back to squash's never-ending wait for a debut at the Jeux olympiques, and even Joshana believes it can make all the difference in terms of getting more kids into the sport in the future.
"We're going to have so many people backing younger kids in the hope that they will win a medal at the Olympics. And today, to be from India is actually awesome because we get a lot of recognition when we do well at the CWG or Asiad," she says.
"But for that, you do need that support from the beginning and parents have to go through the grind to help their kids play. And hopefully, more corporates will also come in. I think there will be a massive boost for squash in India we are to be in the Olympics," she adds.
Dipika had said after their CWG win that they had been in the shadows for a very long time, and hoped the victory would change it.
It's time for the sport, too, to come out of one.