Representatives of World Squash, Squash Australia and the Professional Squash Association have hailed a “positive and constructive” meeting with the Brisbane 2032 team at the Brisbane 2032 office on Thursday 13 March.

During the meeting, World Squash President Zena Wooldridge, Squash Australia President Matt Schmidt and CEO Rob Donaghue, Professional Squash Association COO Lee Beachill and Australia’s five-time World Open champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald met with Brisbane 2032 CEO Cindy Hook and Sports Director Brendan Keane to discuss what squash could offer to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.

Squash will make its Olympic debut at the LA28 Olympic Games, and for World Squash President Zena Wooldridge the meeting this week represented a timely opportunity for squash to explore how it might make a distinctive contribution to the Brisbane Games.

“First, my thanks on behalf of our squash group to the Brisbane 2032 team for their warm welcome and hospitality,” Wooldridge said.

“It felt like a positive and constructive conversation around how the distinctive features of squash could bring added value to the Brisbane Games at relatively low cost, and to share how inclusion in the LA28 programme is already accelerating development and innovation across the sport and raised profile of the sport and its amazing athletes.

“Squash is one of the most intensely athletic pursuits whilst also being a fantastic social and general fitness sport played worldwide. Australia is a nation steeped in squash heritage. Australia has produced many of the world’s squash legends and still heads the leaderboard for the most World Team Titles in the sport’s history”.

“The meeting with Brisbane 2032 coincides with the Australian Open, this year elevated to a Gold-level PSA Squash Tour Event. It is taking place on Squash Australia’s new state-of-the-art glass court located in the South Bank Piazza, whilst Aussie talent will benefit from a recent national funding boost for Squash Australia’s High-Performance Strategy covering the next two Olympic cycles to Brisbane 2032.

“I would like to reiterate our thanks to the Brisbane 2032 team for their open and engaging dialogue. I feel sure we came away with a better mutual appreciation of the opportunities and challenges, and how the sport of squash could contribute to a spectacular Olympic Games in Brisbane.”