HCL, a leading global conglomerate, today announced that the third PSA event under the HCL-SRFI India Tour will be held in Mumbai between December 17 and 21, 2019 at the Willingdon Sports Club. The HCL-SRFI multi-city PSA Challenger tour is hosting nine tournaments across different cities, covering all regions.
For the first time in India, a series of nine PSA-level tournaments are being hosted within one year and it is already helping Indian players improve their international ranking significantly. The upcoming tournament in Mumbai will witness participation from top Indian and international players from 10countries including Spain, Italy, Japan, Malaysia and Scotland.
The Men’s field will be led by World No 46. Karim Ali Fathi of Egypt, followed by India No 2 Mahesh Mangaonkar and India No 6 Aditya Jagtap who will be the 2nd and 3rd seed while the Women’s draw will be headed by World No 41 Rachel Arnold of Malaysia followed by Lucy Turmel and Anna Kimberley of England. Sunayna Kuruvilla (4th seed) and Tanvi Khanna (7th seed) will also feature in the top 8.
Talking about the initiative, Sundar Mahalingam, Chief Strategy Officer of HCL Corporation said, “We launched the HCL Squash Podium Program earlier this year to push the pedal on bringing Squash to the centre stage of Indian sports. I believe that Indian players are already performing well at international platforms and this is only set to improve. We have received a heartening response for our earlier tournaments in NOIDA and Chennai both from players and audience and I look forward to witnessing the same in Mumbai.”
Cyrus Poncha, Secretary General, SRFI said, “These are important times for Indian Squash. The precedence set by senior Indian squash stars on the international stage has made it even more pressing to ensure that the next generation of squash talent receives the right guidance to continues India’s winning streak. The HCL Squash Podium Program that we have co-created with HCL is a crucial part of our endeavour to provide Indian talent the essential experience and exposure to emerge as winners.”
HCL has been supporting Squash in the country for over three years now and has been organizing HCL Junior Squash tournament since 2016. HCL scaled-up its efforts by partnering with SRFI to organize the HCL Senior National Squash Championship in 2017 and again in 2018. As part of the HCL Squash Podium program, HCL has already hosted a High-Performance camp in June with support from SRFI. This camp provided intensive training to 32 junior players, who were selected to represent India at the Asian and World Championships under British coach – Chris Ryder. Going Forward, HCL and SRFI will also host another High Performance Camp, Referee Clinics and training camps for coaches.