When Matin Ghalami was introduced to squash by his mother as a 12-year-old in Iran, he dreamed of playing in the Olympics. He could never have foreseen the unlikely sequence of events that would put that dream within his grasp.
Matin first picked up a squash racket as part of a scouting programme in his home city of Shiraz. He quickly became part of a strong community, “like a family,” at his local club.
“When I stepped on to a squash court, I really felt the connection,” he said. “Squash was unique, very different from all the other mainstream sports and I really liked that. I started taking lessons a year later.”
Sitting in the back of his parents’ car one day after practice, he told them he wanted to play squash in the Olympic Games. Back in 2018, these would have been easily dismissed as the wild imaginings of a naive, starry-eyed child.
At that stage, he hadn’t taken part in many tournaments and his family couldn’t afford to send him abroad to compete internationally.
But fast forward to October 2022 and by the time squash was unexpectedly announced on the sports programme for LA 2028, a then 17-year-old Matin was living in Wolverhampton, in England’s West Midlands, where he was studying at a college on a squash scholarship.
“I’m really grateful my parents sent me to England to study for a better future,” said Matin. “It was an opportunity spotted by my mother. I studied at Wolverhampton for three years and Chris Dawson was a great coach and mentor to me. He made my squash level much higher than it was when I came to the UK.”
But squash dropped down his priority list after he graduated from the college and became a refugee. His juniors years were over and his priority became finding work to sustain himself whilst alone in a foreign country.
“I had this belief that if you don’t have financial stability after junior years, either you go pro or stick to your casual squash,” Matin reflected. “I stopped playing, maybe doing just once a month with my coach in the West Midlands.
“I felt a bit hopeless in terms of my squash…. In my mind, I thought it was over.”
That was when his mother again came to his rescue, spotting an opportunity that would revive his boyhood Olympic dream.
She discovered that the Refugee Athlete Support programme run by the Olympic Refugee Foundation was offering Olympic Solidarity scholarships to athletes with potential to compete in the Refugee Olympic Team at LA 2028.
First introduced by IOC president Thomas Bach at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, the Refugee Olympic Team was created as a symbol of hope for all refugees in the world in order to raise global awareness of the scale of the migrant crisis.
A Refugee Olympic Team has now taken part at the last three Games, and at Paris 2024 a refugee athlete won the team’s first ever medal when Cindy Ngamba took bronze in the women’s middleweight boxing category.
With squash making its Olympic debut at LA 2028, the Olympic Refugee Foundation were on the lookout for refugee squash players.
Matin, who had by this time moved to Manchester to search for work, recalls: “I didn’t have that much of a resumé. I didn’t play in many tournaments back in Iran because mostly my focus was school or financial things, but I got in touch with them. I thought, ‘There’s no harm in asking!’
“They were very welcoming at first. We did paperwork and they explained how the scholarship works. Since squash had made it into the Olympics, I was the first squash player to get in touch. As a refugee, they were very keen to have me on the programme.”
The Foundation helped Matin forge connections with the governing body England Squash, introduced him to local coaches and clubs and gave him financial help to pay for accommodation, provisions, travel and entry into tournaments. Suddenly, he could pursue his dream once again.
In June, Matin was announced as one of two squash players accepted on to the Refugee Athlete Support programme. The 47 athletes across all Olympic sports on the programme receive Olympic Solidarity scholarships and are eligible for inclusion in the Refugee Olympic Team at LA 2028.
Also named on the programme was another squash player, Canada-based Mohammadreza Jafarzadeh Kenarsari, who has been competing on the PSA Tour for a year.
Squeezing into the 16-man draw for LA 2028 may still ultimately remain a dream, of course, but the pathway is now there in front of him. The hard work starts now.
He says: “It’s a matter of building experience for me from now on, taking part in different tournaments, playing in PSA Satellites, PSA Challengers and eventually making it into World Tour events, then hopefully in 2028, if I have the chance, in the Olympics.”
Matin now trains at Manchester Squash Club, based at the National Squash Centre, and is coached by head coach Thomas Fairhurst. He has helped bring Tecnifibre on board as a sponsor and has guided Matin with the process of joining the PSA.
Fairhurst said: “Working with Matin is something I’m very proud and honoured to be a part of… I’m doing anything I can offer Matin to help him achieve his goals.
“We’ve talked a lot about experiences. I’ve emphasised he needs to get out there, play different people in different environments, keep learning, then we come back together and work towards that next step. Obviously there’s lots of little steps on the way to achieving that bigger goal.
“It’s long overdue news that we’re in the Olympic Games and it gives us a platform to demonstrate the brilliant nature of our sport on a global scale.”
For Matin, he wants to justify the faith shown in him by his coaches in Wolverhampton and Manchester, as well as the Olympic Refugee Foundation. But his main motivation will always come from his closest supporters back in his homeland.
“It would mean a lot [to make it to LA] and would obviously make my parents happy and proud, which is all I really want in my life. I want to give back what they have always done for me.”
