The Oceania World Championship Qualifying Event for squash recently made its debut at the prestigious Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club
The Oceania World Championship Qualifying Event for squash recently made its debut at the prestigious Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, marking a significant milestone in the club’s storied history. Kooyong, renowned for hosting squash legends like Geoff Hunt, Heather McKay, and Ramy Ashour, demonstrated why it is the premier destination for squash in Australia.
This event serves as a critical gateway to the World Championships held in Chicago, USA where the top 64 players from around the globe compete for the title. The Professional Squash Association (PSA) has established regional qualifying events, with winners on both the men's and women's sides earning direct entry.With the recent announcement and hype of squash being included as an Olympic sport, the players were hungrier than ever to make their mark.
The event was particularly memorable for Kooyong’s foundation players, who delivered outstanding performances.
On the men's side, young Connor Hayes caused a major upset by defeating the #7 seed to reach the quarterfinals, showcasing his potential on the big stage. Tate Norris, a three-time Kooyong club champion, entered the tournament unseeded but stunned the competition by beating the #6 and #3 seeds in front of a packed home crowd to make it to the semi-finals. Sadly, Tate’s run came to an end in the semi-finals where he lost to the eventual winner. Dylan Molinaro provided one of the most thrilling runs of the event; he defeated the #1 seed, world-ranked #84, and last year’s winner in the quarterfinals in an epic five-set match that had just about everything you could ask for. Dylan advanced to the finals where he took the first set. Unfortunately, after losing the second set, Dylan suffered a hamstring tear in the third game, which curtailed his remarkable journey.
Sarah Cardwell, our highest-ranked foundation player and former Commonwealth Games representative, also made it to the semi-finals, losing in a tough-fought battle.
The success of the Oceania World Championship Qualifying Event at Kooyong underscores the club's capability to host top-tier events and the exceptional talent nurtured within its ranks. Three of the four semi-finalists were Kooyong foundation players. This came as no surprise to Kooyong Foundation Board member Sam Ejtemai, a former foundation player who is leading the redeveloped the high-performance foundation squash program at Kooyong.
“Squash has seen a resurgence of energy with the recent news that squash will finally be an Olympic sport. Kooyong has always been one of the homes of high-performance squash in Australia, and we are looking to expand on that success. The new program is aimed at developing young athletes into world-class players with the ultimate goal of representing Australia at the LA 2028 Olympic Games. The whole squad has been training extremely hard, and it's great to see their hard work pay off with some great results at the Oceania World Championship Qualifying Event. While they might have seemed like upsets, with the standard the players are producing at training, we knew there would be a few scalps in the event,” said Ejtemai.
