With Olympics blessing, squash eyes SEAG return

Squash has been officially included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games program, presenting a world of opportunities for the sport in Southeast Asia.

The global recognition for squash, an indoor racket sport played by two or four players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball, provides top-caliber squash athletes from the region a chance to compete on the biggest sports stage in the world.

“With this in mind, we intend to vigorously promote and develop squash within our region and beyond our borders,’’ said Robert Bachmann, the newly reelected Southeast Asian Squash Federation (SEASF) president.

To lobby harder

Filipino squash players have been consistently making it to the podium in international meets, hoping that the sport will be reinstated in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games program after missing back-to-back editions in 2022 (Hanoi, Vietnam) and 2023 (Phnom Penh, Cambodia).

With Bachmann at the helm, the SEASF will lobby harder for its inclusion in the Thailand hosting of the SEA Games two years from now.

Bachmann was reelected for a second term as SEASF chief recently, the resounding endorsement motivating him to continue steering the ship to ensure growth and success of squash in the region.

“I would like to thank the SEASF members in giving yours truly a fresh mandate at an exciting time for the sport that will finally make its debut in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games,” Bachmann.