Saurav Ghosal outlines tough LA 2028 Olympic path for Indian squash

MUMBAI:Indian squash’s Olympic dream for Los Angeles 2028 is very much alive, but as Saurav Ghosal makes clear, it will be a narrow, unforgiving road with little margin for error. With squash set to make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics, only 16 players per gender will make the final cut.

According to Ghosal, who has studied the qualification system closely, the structure itself ensures that simply being competitive will not be enough. Under the current framework, eight players qualify directly through world rankings, with a maximum of two players per country.“Assuming Egypt and Great Britain on the men’s side, and Egypt and the USA on the women’s, that already takes four spots,” Ghosal explained.

“The remaining four go to players from the next-bestranked countries.” That math, at least for now, does not favour India, particularly in men’s squash.

Asian Games the key for menBased on present rankings on the Professional Squash Association circuit, Ghosal believes India would miss out if qualification were decided at this moment. Countries like Egypt, Great Britain, Peru, New Zealand, Mexico, and France currently dominate the top eight eligible slots.

“Prima facie, if the deadline was today, we would not make it on the men’s side purely on rankings,” Ghosal said. “So the Asian Games becomes the best path.

”That route, however, is brutally demanding. Only the gold medallist at the Asian Games earns a guaranteed Olympic berth. “Winning the Asian Games is no easy task,” Ghosal admitted, speaking from experience. “I’ve not won an individual gold myself. Medalling is one thing, but here you have to win it.”

India’s highest-ranked male player at present, Abhay Singh, ranked 29th in the world, sits outside the automatic qualification zone, meaning the Asian Games, or a late surge up the rankings, remains the most realistic path.“There is also the qualification tournament right at the end,” Ghosal added, referring to a final event open to players from countries not already represented. “But that’s last-chance saloon territory.”Anahat closest, but still ‘touch and go’India’s best hope lies on the women’s side, where teenage prodigy Anahat Singh is already knocking on the door. “With Anahat, being ranked 19, she might be close,” Ghosal said. “She’s within touching distance, but it will be touch and go.” The competition, however, is fierce. Malaysia, Japan and Belgium all have players hovering around the same ranking bracket, making consistency over the next two years critical.“We’re still two years and a bit away from the cutoff (May 2028),” Ghosal noted. “Ideally, she pushes up the rankings so that we don’t even have to think about the Asian Games as a fallback.”Small field, big challengeGhosal stressed that difficulty was inevitable the moment the Olympic field was capped at 16 players. “It was never going to be easy,” he said. “The IOC clearly wants a balance, a strong field, but also global representation. That’s why you have rankings, Continental Games, host quota, and one qualification tournament.”In practical terms, that means India must peak at precisely the right moments, either by climbing the rankings steadily or delivering a flawless week at the Asian Games. “It’s a question of one week,” Ghosal said. “If everything comes together in that one week, anything is possible. But here, it’s not about winning bronze. You have to win.