A few students at the Harrow School in Middlesex first played squash nearly 200 years ago. The sport will now make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Managed by World Squash, the sport has seen professional athletes from over 60 countries compete at the highest international fixtures of the PSA Squash Tour.
Currently, Saurav Ghosal, one of India’s best squash players, is the men’s president of the Professional Squash Association (PSA), which manages the global professional circuit. Collectively, Indian squash players across singles, doubles, and mixed doubles have won 6 gold medals at the World Championships, 2 bronze medals at the World Cup, 20 medals at the Asian Games, 38 medals at the Asian Championships, and 10 medals at the South Asian Games (as of 2025).
For a sport on an exponential upward trajectory in the country, this article serves as a guide for anyone who wants to understand its professional circuit.
The PSA has two professional tours: the PSA Challenger Tour and the PSA World Events. The former involves participation by lower-ranked, less experienced professionals, whereas the latter is for the world’s highest-ranked athletes. A new season begins in August. Most events feature both men’s and women’s events.
PSA Squash Tour – Challenger Events
The PSA Challenger Tour has 7 categories of events: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 20, and 30. These numbers represent the prize money each event in that tier offers (e.g., Challenger 3 offers $ 3,000, Challenger 6 offers $ 6,000, and so on). The higher the prize money, the greater the draw size, and the ranking points on offer.
As of 2025, the following Indian cities host the Challenger events: Jaipur (Challenger 9), Mumbai (Challenger 9), Thane (Challenger 9), Bangalore (Challenger 6), Chennai (Challenger 15), Indore (Challenger 15 for women), Ahmedabad (Challenger 6), and Greater Noida (Challenger 6).
In the Challenger events calendar, there are a few tournaments that form the lowest tier of professional squash events. These are called Satellite tournaments. The winner of these events receives 30 ranking points, and the prize money never exceeds $ 3,000. Often, only the host nation’s players participate in these events.
PSA Squash Tour – World Events
The PSA World Events comprise various tournament categories. From the lowest tier to the highest in terms of prize money, these categories are Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. The Copper, Bronze, Silver, and Gold tier events have a draw size of 24. Platinum tier events feature 32 players, whereas the Diamond tier tournaments host 48 players. A title win in a Copper-tier tournament is worth 500 ranking points, 900 for Bronze, 1350 for Silver, 1800 for Gold, 2800 for Platinum, and 3100 for Diamond.
The two most elite features of the PSA World Events calendar are the PSA Squash Tour finals and the PSA World Championships. The eight highest-ranked players of the season compete in the PSA Squash Tour finals. A player gets 1000 ranking points for winning this tournament. In the PSA World Championships, a 64-player draw is featured, and the winner profits with 3500 ranking points. From India, Indore is the only city to host a tournament from the World Events calendar. It hosts a Bronze-tier men’s event in November.
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At the global stage, Saurva Ghosal had been the face of Indian squash on the men’s circuit. He was the first Indian male squash player to crack the Top 10 in the world rankings. Vikram Malhotra, Mahesh Mangaonkar, and Harinder Pal Sandhu were former squash players who also broke into the Top 50 rankings. On the women’s side, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal’s heroics were notable on the women’s circuit. Both players went on to be Top 10 players in the world. Chinappa, at 39, is still active on the circuit and dropped off the world’s Top 100 only last week.
India’s legacy in squash on the men’s side is now carried forward by Abhay Singh, Ramit Tandon, Velavan Senthilkumar, and Veer Chotrani. Each of them are placed inside the Top 50 world rankings. Anahat Singh has established herself as the face of India’s women’s squash at least for the next decade. She is currently ranked No.33 by the PSA Tour.
Along with her, Akanksha Salunkhe and Tanvi Khanna have been making promising strides; each nearing their debut in the Top 50 rankings.
