As the first of the five Continental Games, all of which have Olympic qualification up for grabs, the Asian Games will be, to date, unarguably the highest-stakes squash tournament ever played.
Whilst that in itself brings inevitable pressure on the participants, how about this for a statistic which adds even further expectation for a particular group of players in the draw?
Malaysia has never won an Olympic gold medal.
With 15 medals overall (eight silvers and seven bronzes), Malaysia is comfortably the nation with the most Olympic medals never to have welcomed home an Olympic champion.
You can perhaps imagine the desperate national clamour for a gold medallist, which reaches a crescendo every four years in the build-up to each Games.
As the probable top seed for the Asian Games and Malaysia's highest-ranked squash player ahead of the sport's Olympic debut, Subramaniam is the source of considerable national hope.
"Yes, Malaysians do make a big deal about it!" she tells Squash Player. "In the Paralympics, we've had two or three winners, but not at the Olympic Games.
"Every time an Olympics come round, there's always pressure on who can win a gold medal. Obviously if we'd been in the Olympics during Nicol [David]'s time, we'd have won the gold medal already. But now squash is in, obviously the pressure is there."
Recognising the medal potential of Subramaniam and her compatriot, men's world no.18 and reigning Asian Games champion Eian Yow Ng, the Malaysian government has included them on a funding programme called Road to Gold.
Subramaniam, known as 'Siva' on the circuit, explains: "The National Sports Council has always provided support dating back to Nicol, who is an icon here, but now they are supporting squash even more. Right now, it's a different kind of priority.
"Badminton is one of the top sports in Malaysia but we can put squash near to badminton now. If they see you as a potential Olympic contender, they're giving you extra priority to cover the financial burden for you.
"We are getting a lot more attention and funding from the government's Road to Gold programme and private sponsors, which relieves the financial stress of me training abroad."
'Abroad' for Siva means Prague, where she's been based for the last 18 months, training under maverick former world champion Gregory Gaultier.
"It's a nice city, great training set-up, and a great environment," says the Cornell graduate. "Greg cares so much about his players, he gives everything for us. He pushes me and gives me a different mindset so I don't stay in my comfort zone."
Subramaniam's world top-five position, significantly above that of her next highest-ranked compatriot (currently Aira Azman at no.21), means that she looks likely to qualify for the Olympics through her world ranking on the cut-off date of 22 May 2028. But winning the Asian Games in Nagoya would settle the issue nice and early.
To do so, she will probably need to beat close friend Satomi Watanabe. The pair have played each other since they were juniors and trained together in Penang when Watanabe relocated from Yokohama in her teens. Their birthdays are only three days apart.
"We are very close," says Siva. "We grew up together. We've been rivals and friends since Under-11! We know each other very well. The Asian Games is obviously going to be huge for both of us. The seedings might be no.1 and no.2, so let's see how it goes!"
No profile of Subramaniam is complete without mention of the horrific car crash in 2022 that left her with a fractured neck. Doctors questioned whether she would ever walk again, let alone compete on the professional squash tour.
"There were times when I doubted myself [during the recovery period]," she said in an interview after her comeback. "I tried to just stay as positive as I could. I think the passion, the love for the sport kept me going.”
Just over a year after the crash, she won the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, beating Watanabe in the semi-finals. Her trajectory since then has been one-way.
Undoubtedly her finest moment was victory at the London Classic in April 2024, beating Nour ElSherbini, Nele Gilis and Hania El Hammamy (in a five-game thriller) en route. Victories at the Cincinnati Cup, Australian Open and Grasshopper Cup have followed since then. Now, just a month into the new season, the Asian Games will be ringed in thick red pen in her diary.
"It's always been important to me, and for my country, to be winning the Asian Games gold medal," she says. "But obviously this year it's way more important. I need to win the Asian Games to qualify for the Olympics, so that's the biggest goal for now.
"I'm trying not to put any pressure on myself. Obviously there's always external pressures, but I'm trying not to over-think too much.
"I work with a psychologist and we speak about it. I try to go with the flow and not think ahead too much. I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but for me it works well when I try to just relax. We all know Asian Games is important, but what's the point of stressing over it?"
