Squash’s long wait for Olympic inclusion finally gained real substance this week with the official announcement of the qualification system for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
For the first time in its history, the fast-paced racquet sport will feature on the Olympic programme, and now the pathway for athletes to reach LA has been clearly laid out. A total of 16 men and 16 women will compete at LA28, and they will qualify through five distinct routes, balancing elite performance, global representation, and last-chance opportunity.
The framework released by World Squash and the International Olympic Committee is designed to ensure that the world’s best players are present, while also preserving the Olympic ethos of universality and continental diversity. For players, federations, and fans alike, it marks the start of a four-year race that will define careers and national programmes.
The five roads to Los Angeles
The qualification system revolves around five pathways, each offering a specific number of places per gender.
1. Continental Games – 5 athletes per gender
The biggest chunk of Olympic berths will be distributed through the continental multi-sport games. Each continent will award one place per gender through its flagship event:
- Africa Games
- Asian Games
- European Games
- Pan American Games
- Pacific Games
This means five men and five women will earn direct Olympic spots by winning their respective continental titles. For many nations, especially in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, these events will become decisive Olympic trials in their own right. The Asian Games, in particular, will be brutally competitive, with powerhouses like Egypt, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and India all fighting for a single men’s and women’s slot.
2. Host quota – 1 athlete per gender
As hosts, the United States will be guaranteed one place in the men’s and women’s draws. These spots are reserved for American players, ensuring that the home nation has representation when squash makes its Olympic debut on US soil. The method for selecting the US athletes will be determined by the national federation, but this quota gives American squash a huge development incentive ahead of 2028.
3. PSA World Rankings – 8 athletes per gender
The backbone of the Olympic field will come from the PSA World Rankings, with eight men and eight women qualifying directly based on their global standing at the end of the qualification window. This pathway ensures that the sport’s true elite the players who consistently perform at the highest level on the professional tour will be present at LA28.
For top-ranked stars, this route offers the most straightforward Olympic ticket: keep winning, keep your ranking high, and secure a place. It also puts enormous importance on the PSA Tour over the next few seasons, turning every major event into a potential Olympic points battle.
4. Universality – 1 athlete per gender
In keeping with Olympic tradition, one place per gender will be reserved under the Universality principle. This is designed to give players from nations with little or no Olympic representation a chance to compete on the world’s biggest stage. These slots will be allocated by the IOC in consultation with World Squash, ensuring that squash’s Olympic debut has truly global reach.
5. Final Qualifying Tournament – 1 athlete per gender
The last door to LA28 will be opened by a Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which will award one men’s and one women’s place. This is the ultimate last-chance shootout – a high-pressure event where those who narrowly missed out through rankings or continental routes get one final opportunity to book their Olympic ticket.
What it means for global squash
The distribution of 16 places per gender reflects the IOC’s desire for a compact, high-quality Olympic competition. While it is a smaller field than squash would like in the long term, it ensures that LA28 will showcase the very best of the sport without diluting quality.
For powerhouse nations like Egypt, which dominate both men’s and women’s world rankings, this system presents a fascinating challenge. With only 16 spots available, and limits expected on how many players one country can send, internal competition will be fierce. World number ones will likely qualify via rankings, but second- and third-ranked players from the same country may have to chase continental or final-tournament routes.
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For emerging squash nations, the continental pathway is a golden opportunity. Asia, for instance, offers a realistic Olympic route for Indian players like Anahat Singh or Veer Chotrani if they can peak at the Asian Games. In the Americas, Pan Am dominance could open the door for US, Canadian, or Latin American stars.
A historic countdown begins
With the qualification system now public, squash has officially entered its Olympic era. Every PSA ranking point, every continental championship, and every major tournament from now to 2028 carries added weight. Careers will be shaped by Olympic dreams, and national federations will start aligning their calendars and funding around these five pathways.
For a sport that fought for decades to be included in the Olympics, this moment is more than just an administrative announcement it is the starting gun for squash’s biggest race yet. Los Angeles 2028 is no longer a distant ambition. It is a destination, and now the road to get there is finally clear.
