The end of the 2024/25 PSA Squash Tour brought a pause in live action — but the void will quickly be filled by ever-intensifying speculation, rumour and possibly even public announcement that pertains to squash’s Olympic debut at LA 2028.
Last week, 14 July, marked three years until the XXXIV Olympiad begins in Los Angeles. That may seem some way off right now, but the first of many important deadlines is actually fast approaching for World Squash and other key stakeholders as they seek to structure the qualification process in as fair and equitable way as possible.
International federations for all sports on the 2028 programme, including squash, must submit their qualification systems to the IOC Executive Board for approval by the end of this year. Final ratification will take place at the IOC Session in early 2026.
So, in just over six months, the world’s top squash players will know what they have to do to secure that plane ticket to California.
April’s shock announcement that both men’s and women’s draws would feature only 16 players, instead of the originally-assumed 32, has made it an even harder job for the sport’s custodians. There are going to be many, many disappointed players and the qualification process that leads to their exclusion will come under severe scrutiny and probable criticism, however it is shaped.
The details of squash’s qualification mechanism are as yet unknown, but here’s a vital piece of information that is not widely-publicised but players should be aware of: it is possible that they could meet all the qualification criteria and STILL not be selected for LA.
‘Wait, what?’ as the kids say these days. Yes, it’s true.
Whether it’s through a world ranking, performances during a period of time across a set number of qualification events, through continental qualifying competitions (European Championships, Pan American Championships etc) or through so-called ‘universality places‘, it is entirely possible that a player can ‘qualify’ and yet not be selected by their own National Olympic Committee (NOC).
Take the case of Danish badminton player Line Kjærsfeldt, who met all the selection criteria for Paris 2024 and yet was not selected by the Danish governing body, Badminton Denmark. They preferred Mia Blichfeldt, despite the fact that she had finished one place lower on the ‘Race to Paris’ ranking system.
“I am very sad, disappointed, angry, frustrated and it hurts that the federation do not believe in me delivering a good result in Paris,” Kjærsfeldt wrote, quite understandably, in an Instagram post.
An Olympic qualification place is earned by the athlete on behalf of his or her country’s NOC, but that NOC has the freedom to assign it to a player of their choosing. In the vast majority of cases, they quite logically give it to the player who earned it — but they are not obliged to.
To take a hypothetical example, Joel Makin could earn a qualifying spot for Team GB at LA 2028, only for the newly-formed Great Britain squash governing body to hand it to Jonah Bryant. Clearly, there would be outrage at such a decision (especially in Wales!) and, to be absolutely clear, there is absolutely no suggestion this particular example will happen, but it is theoretically possible.
There are even examples of NOCs who’ve actually HANDED BACK qualification berths that have been legitimately earned by their own athletes, instead of assigning them to a preferred compatriot.
This was the case with the Dutch Golf Federation, who told Demi Weber, Darius van Driel and Joost Luiten they would not be competing at Paris 2024 despite the trio all meeting the IOC and International Golf Federation’s qualification requirements.
The set qualification structure was a ranking system across a set number of tournaments, with the top 60 earning Olympic qualification spots (with adjustments so that some countries weren’t over-represented).
But the Netherlands IOC had set its own bespoke, more restrictive qualification criteria, stating that only “realistic options” of achieving at least an Olympic diploma (awarded to those who finished between fourth and eighth) would be part of the Dutch team. Taking that framework, the Dutch Golf Federation required its male players to be in the top 24 and female players in the top 27 of golf’s Olympic qualification ranking. Van Dam (34th), Weber Luiten (40th) and Van Driel (50th) were out.
“Our own country is saying: ‘We don’t think you’re worthy of being an Olympic athlete and that you’re not worthy of representing the Netherlands.’ It hurts, honestly,” Weber told Golf Digest.
The aim of the world’s top male and female squash players in the next three years will be to avoid similar heartache and the intense FOMO of missing out on one of those treasured 16 qualification places.
There will inevitably be restrictions on the number of players in each draw from one particular nation, so it’s not surprising that, if speculation is to be believed, several players from the strongest squash-playing countries (you can fill in the blanks yourself here) are looking to switch nationality, attaching new national colours on their metaphorical Trojan horse as it rolls through the Los Angeles city gates.
As the 2024/25 season ends and gives players pause for thought, and we get closer to finding out the framework for Olympic selection, it won’t be long before players are compelled to start publicly confirming their allegiances to new flags.
The battle lines will be drawn and the race to secure squash’s first ever Olympic gold medals can begin.
