HCL and SRFI Announce the Seventh PSA Challenger Tour Event Under HCL Squash Podium Program
New Delhi: HCL, a leading global conglomerate, today announced that its seventh PSA (Professional Squash Association) Challenger Tour event is scheduled from September 4 – 7, 2021, at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR. The PSA tournament is part of the HCL Squash Podium Program that aims to provide Indian players with platforms to help hone their skills and gain precious ranking points. It will witness participation from 46 Indian players who will compete for a prize money of $12K for women and $6K for men. To ensure that Squash enthusiasts do not miss out on the opportunity to see their favourite players in action, all matches will be streamed live on YouTube channels of India Squash & HCL Enterprise.
Leading Indian players like Sunayna Kuruvilla (World Rank – 77), Tanvi Khanna (World Rank – 86) and Abhishek Agarwal (World Rank – 164) will be participating at the PSA Tour. This will be the first HCL-SRFI Indian Tour to be hosted in Delhi NCR since the pandemic and will follow strict COVID-19 bio-bubble protocols, with only Indian players as participants to ensure player safety.
Sundar Mahalingam, President – Strategy, HCL Corporation said, “HCL Squash Podium program, launched in 2019, is aimed at transforming the Indian Squash ecosystem by providing holistic support to players and help them shine at the global stage. While our support includes organizing high-performance camps, leveraging sports science to help players improve, referee clinics and multiple championships, the PSA Challenger Tours are a critical component of the program as this allows players to compete against the best talent and improve their international rank by gaining PSA rank points. We are looking forward to some exciting matches over the next four days and wish all the players the best of luck.”
Cyrus Poncha, Secretary-General, Squash Rackets Federation of India said, “HCL has been our partner for the last 5 years and with their involvement, we have been able to enhance the entire squash ecosystem in India. The PSA tour is one of the strategic programs that is being conceptualized and run jointly to help Indian players improve their game and international ranking. The program has already improved the ranking of many players since its inception. For instance, Tanvi Khanna who was World Rank 98 and Velavan Senthilkumar who was World Rank 185 won the HCL-SRFI Indian Tour in Chennai held in August and are now ranked at 86 and 111 respectively. I am hopeful that HCL and SRFI together will continue to help promising players emerge as the next stars of Indian Squash.”
The HCL Squash Podium Program was launched in 2019 and the first PSA tournament under this program was also held in Delhi NCR in August 2019. Since then, PSA Tours have been hosted across Chennai, Mumbai and Jaipur.