Shanghai Set to Make History: The Thrilling Debut of a New Olympic Event
This new Olympic event will be held in Shanghai for the first time
2024-10-27 Shanghai
Youth Daily·Youth Shanghai trainee reporter Zhu Bin/Text and pictures
The 2024 China Squash Open is about to start. On October 27, Oriental Sports Center launched a squash scouting camp in Moon Bay before the game. During the period, national squash champion Wang Junjie introduced the rules of squash competition and led the campers to practice. This squash competition returns to Shanghai after five years. It is also the first international professional squash event held in mainland China after the squash project was “successfully admitted to the Olympics”.
Starting from October 30, the 2024 China Squash Open will be officially launched. The event attracted more than 100 elite athletes from Egypt, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and many other countries and regions.
What is squash? According to Wang Junjie, squash is a sport that originated in the UK and is one of the new ball sports in the Los Angeles Olympics. Squash uses a best-of-five-set system. When serving, players are required to stand with at least one foot within the square marked area. The front wall is divided by three lines. The first serve must hit the middle area between the middle service line and the top out-of-bounds line. After the serve, it can be hit within the upper and lower boundary lines. When hitting the ball, the ball needs to hit the front wall to be effective. It can also bounce through the side wall or the back wall to the front wall for hitting. The rules of squash hitting are similar to those of tennis. You can hit the ball once or not.
“It is easy for people who can play tennis and badminton to learn squash. And squash can be practiced by one person, which is more convenient than tennis and badminton training. In addition, squash is hit in a limited space and does not require high height. Small-scale running sports are more friendly to Asians. Wang Junjie, a badminton player turned squash player, believes that squash has always been relatively niche in China.
“Since it was officially selected as an Olympic sport in Los Angeles in 2023, squash has continued to become known to the Chinese people, and more and more people have begun to participate in this sport.” Wang Junjie introduced what he has learned in recent years.
At the professional sports level, domestic professional squash athletes are gradually emerging in professional events. Previously, in the 2024 National Squash Championship, men’s player Li Haizhen and women’s player Cheng Linglu were awarded wild cards. In the future, they will play side by side with Zhou Penglin and Liu Ziyi, and together they will challenge world famous players on the international professional stage and accumulate professional competitions. Points and sprint to the Los Angeles Olympics.
The Squash Open lasts for five days, with the first round, second round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals held every day. The game will be held in the evening. The competition time for the first four days is from 18:30 to 22:00; the competition time on the final day is from 19:00 to 21:00.
Tickets for the 2024 China Squash Open are on sale through the official ticketing channel Jiushi Sports APP. Audiences can purchase tickets through the Jiushi Sports APP, or its WeChat and Alipay mini-programs.
Youth Daily·Youth Shanghai trainee reporter Zhu Bin/Text and pictures
Editor: Lu Tianyi
Source: Youth Shanghai News—24-hour Youth Daily