Professional Squash Association Explained

Assocname:Professional Squash Association
Size:260px
Sport:Squash
Abbrev:PSA
Jurisdiction:International
Location:Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Chairman: Ziad Al-Turki
Chiefexec: Alex Gough
Sponsor:Dunlop
Url:https://www.psasquashtour.com
More: 2024–25 PSA Squash Tour

The Professional Squash Association, aka PSA, is the governing body for the men's and women's professional squash circuit. The body operates in a similar fashion to the ATP and the WTA for tennis.[1] The PSA's highest professional level, the PSA World Tour involves over 250 tournaments annually around the world. Over 1,200 players from five continents and more than 60 countries are registered with the PSA.[2] Rankings are updated weekly based on performances.

Squash Tour

PSA Squash Tour comprises the most important tournaments in prize money for more experienced and higher-ranked players, including the World Championship and Tour Finals, labelled as following:

Every year, the top eight performers compete in the PSA Squash Tour Finals. The players are separated into two groups of four, and play a round robin. The top two from each group advance to the semifinals (A1 vs B2; B1 vs A2). The winner of the event is crowned the World Tour champion.[3]

Challenger Tour

PSA Challenger Tour tournaments are entry point for young and upcoming professionals progressing through to a more international level of competition. It offers $3,000–$30,000 prize money and is the ideal circuit for less-experienced and upcoming players.

Satellite Tour

PSA Satellite Tour comprises closed national championships or tournaments where entry is restricted to members of an association that promotes the tournament.

Background

In January 2013, the PSA announced, along with U.S. Squash, the creation of a new tournament series called the US Pro Squash Series. This tournament series is used to support marketing activities for tournaments in the United States.[4]

In November 2014, the WSA and the PSA announced a historic merger between the two associations.[5] A decision was reached to designate the PSA operate as the governing body for both the women's and men's ranks from 1 January 2015.

On 7 December 2020 the PSA reached an agreement with Dunlop that extends Dunlop's tenure as the provider of official balls and official racquets for the PSA. The extension is three years.[6]

World rankings

PSA publishes weekly rankings of professional players: PSA World Rankings (commonly known as the ‘World rankings’).

Current men's rankings

See main article: Official Men's Squash World Ranking.

Current women's rankings

See main article: Official Women's Squash World Ranking.

Current champions

Men's

TournamentEditionPlayer
World Championship2023-24 Diego Elías
World Number 1Current Ali Farag
World Tour Finals2022-23 Mostafa Asal

Women's

TournamentEditionPlayer
World Championship2023-24 Nouran Gohar
World Number 1Current Nour El Sherbini
World Tour Finals2022-23 Nouran Gohar

Awards

Video game

PSA World Tour Squash 2015
Italic Title:no
Collapsible:yes
Developer:Team6 Game Studios
Publisher:Alternative Software
Platforms:Wii
Genre:Sport simulation
Modes:Single-player

A PSA-licensed video game titled PSA World Tour Squash 2015 has been developed by Team6 Game Studios and published by Alternative Software, and was released only in various European countries on 22 May 2015, exclusively for Nintendo's Wii console.[7] The game features the likeness of several professional squash players such as Nick Matthew, Amr Shabana, Grégory Gaultier, Ramy Ashour, and many others, and takes place in many iconic, global squash courts. Players can compete in main World Tour, or set up their own tournaments with using custom player avatars and stats. The game also supports Wii MotionPlus, allowing users an enhanced, real-time squash motion control gameplay experience, (Official website) and is the last ever game for the console to do so.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: PSA World Rankings – Men's . Professional Squash Association . June 9, 2018 .
  2. Web site: PSA World Rankings – Women's . Professional Squash Association . June 9, 2018 .
  3. Web site: 2019-05-31 . World Tour Finals: Tournament History . 2024-02-06 . PSA World Tour.
  4. Web site: US Pro Squash Series Standings . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140317223244/http://www.psaworldtour.com/page/USProSquashSeries/ . March 17, 2014 . Professional Squash Association.
  5. Web site: WSA And PSA To Join Forces In Historic Merger . Squash Site . October 30, 2014 . June 9, 2018 .
  6. Web site: PSA and Dunlop Announce Partnership Renewal . PSA World Tour . 7 December 2020 . 19 June 2021.
  7. Web site: Just When You Thought the Humble Wii Was Dead, Here Comes PSA World Tour Squash . . Darren . Calvert . 2015-04-29 . 2015-04-30.