Squash Rackets Federation supports JSW Challenger Circuit

Mumbai: The Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) on Wednesday extended its support to JSW Indian Squash Challenger Circuit and said it will be beneficial to juniors and budding professional.

The circuit, the first professional series in India sanctioned by the sport's global governing bodies PSA and WSA, will be played across Jaipur, Mumbai, and Chennai next month.

"This circuit is the first of its kind in India and will be hugely beneficial to Indian juniors and budding professionals who now have an option to play these professional world tour events and get a world ranking," said Cyrus Poncha, coach of India's national squash team, on behalf of the federation.

"With this being a regular feature on the Indian circuit we can expect lots of players looking to play professionally. This augurs well for Indian squash," he added.

The circuit is sanctioned by the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and Women's Squash Association (WSA), affiliates of the World Squash Federation (WSF), which has more than 1000 players from 80 countries, including 10 Indians, currently registered as professional players.

India's top ranked player Saurav Ghosal said the circuit will be a home-based opportunity for India's young professional players to get international exposure.

"A series of four events will help the up-and-coming players of India to gain a foothold on the PSA and WSA. The circuit should help produce more professional players, which can only be great for India. The hope is that the JSW Circuit will develop with our players and become bigger with every passing year," Ghosal said.