Start the clocks. The route to LA 2028 has now been mapped out and the battle for those treasured Olympic qualification positions is under way.
Players, coaches, federations and National Olympic Committees have now had the chance to digest the Olympic Qualification System devised by World Squash and the PSA and how it affects them.
For some players, the path to the Games is straight-forward; for others their world ranking and position relative to their national team-mates make the picture more complex.
One of the many nuggety narratives that will unfold over the next two and a bit years is in the women's game.
Things can, of course, change hugely in that time period and probably will, and this article is written with that giant asterisk very much hanging over it.
But one thing we can predict without too much caution is that Egypt will be one of the nations who secure two positions in the draw in LA (one for the winner of the African Games and another via being at or near the top of the world rankings).
After that, we can put down the ever-improving American Olivia Weaver as our title favourite at the Pan-American Games, and thereafter players such as Sivasangari Subramaniam, Satomi Watanabe, Gina Kennedy, Tinne Gilis and Anahat Singh as likely qualifiers either through winning their Continental Games title or being the top-ranked players from their respective nations.
If all that were to unfold as the current world rankings indicate, it would leave one qualifying spot (possibly two, but let's park that for now) for players ranked second in their nation to compete for.
Currently, this would put USA's Amanda Sobhy, Belgium's Nele Gilis and England's Jasmine Hutton in a straight fight to be the highest ranked player on the cut-off date of 22 May 2028.
It must be pointed out at this point that the likes of Marina Stefanoni (USA), Sabrina Sobhy (USA), Georgia Adderley (GBR) and Torrie Malik (GBR) should not be discounted from this discussion, as they will be trying to leapfrog their compatriots in the next two years.
We mustn't ignore the Malaysians either. Sisters Aira and Aifa Azman and Rachael Arnold could certainly come into the equation for a second-ranked qualifying spot behind their world no.6-ranked Malaysian compatriot Subramaniam.
However, making assumptions based on the current world rankings, the battle for that second-ranked player position looks like a three-horse race as things stand.
Sobhy, currently the highest-ranked of the trio at no.11, looks like she's in a good place right now. With that second Achilles rupture now barely a dot in her rearview mirror, the 32-year-old won Bronze titles last year in Hamburg and Washington DC and recently beat England no.1 Kennedy in straight games in the PSA Silver Cincinnati Cup final.
Nele Gilis is just one place below Sobhy in 12th. Having reached a career-high no.4 at the end of 2023 where she remained for almost a year, her trajectory since then has been downward.
Confidence is a big factor for Nele. Restoring her feel-good factor could be the key to winning this mini battle for the second-ranked qualifying spot — or perhaps even overtaking Tinne (currently no.10) to steal her sister's Olympic qualifying place. What a story that would be!
Jasmine Hutton will also believe she can overtake her compatriot Kennedy to earn an automatic place as the top-ranked Englishwoman. If not, she will be in the thick of that battle between the highest second-ranked players.
Can she claw her way above Sobhy and Nele by 22 May 2028? Without a doubt. The left-hander from Sussex is playing with great consistency — she has performed at or above her seeding in every tournament since August 2024. Her current ranking of no.15 is a career high and in the last year she has beaten several higher-ranked players including Tinne (twice), Nele (twice), Nada Abbas and Fayrouz Aboelkheir.
Sisters, team-mates, friends and rivals in direct competition for precious places at the Greatest Show on Earth. The storylines in top-level squash over the next two and a half years are going to be epic.
Words: Mike Dale
Images: Nathan Clarke
