Squash Or Squeeze?

I was more of a badminton player than a squash player and never a tennis player. I could play a mean game of badminton heavily influenced during the time of legends like Rudy Hartono and Svend Pri. Squash was like unheard of until a friend who plays it quite frequently at Poly introduced it. I found that I love the game. It is pulsating and physically intimidating to say the least. I particularly love hitting on the side wall with gusto and feeling and seeing the ball ricochets away like a pinball can be quite fun. This shot is called a "Boast". 


The only thing I dislike is that in a non air-conditioned squash court, the heat is too intense within the court. I found myself asking why it is called Squash and not Squeezed as you get squeezed within the confines of the walls. Squeezed oranges become orange squash and at the end of an hour or two after playing several sets with different opponents, you do really feel like a squeezed orange but it was good even if you look like the orange pulp at the end.

How It Started

Squash was named with reference to the "squashable" ball. It was said to have evolved from five different sports probably from France. The next major development of squash took place in England but in the 30s, Egypt dominated the sport. When we started, Geoff Hunt of Australia was the dominant force in the 70s winning a record 8 British Open and during the 80s and 90s Jahangir Khan of Pakistan ruled the roost having won the British Open a record 10 times followed by Janshir Khan also from Pakistan who won the World Open a record 8 times. Reference must also be made on the legendary Hashim Khan, winner of 7 British Open and his son who won 12 North American Open.

Squash balls are made from two rubber compounds glued together like a hollow sphere buffed to a matte finish usually dark in colour and comes in different coloured dots to denote the speed of the ball. Better players use slow balls that have less bounce than less experienced players who needs faster balls with more bounce. Slower balls "die" faster therefore making shots or returns and retrieval of shots more difficult. 


For example, Orange dot denotes Super Slow Speed and Super Low bounce whereas Blue Dot means Fast Speed and High Bounce. Red is for Medium Speed High Bounce. There are about three more categories between Red and Orange. Most popular brands at the time was Dunlop, Wilson, Slazenger and Prince. Only non-marking shoes are allowed in the courts and you will need light clothes - shorts and T-shirts as the game is very vigorous. Traditionally the game ends at the first score of 15 but today professional games ends at 9.

Golden Era

There was a time where Singapore experienced the The Golden Age of Squash. Things were not as it is now which makes me feel sad. That was the time I felt so much excitement and passion about squash so much so that from infrequent pursuits, it became a weekly affair for me playing around Kallang and Kampong Java. Later, I increased it to twice weekly and even added new venues like the Civil Service Club and also at the top of the Mandarin Hotel Health Club. These two are glass courts with the latter being an air-conditioned one. Phew!

Back then, Singapore was once the squash powerhouse of Asia, probably only second to Pakistan with Malaysia close by. We have also became as good venue for many international tournaments. I remembered watching some of them in action. That was a very exciting phase and a golden era. Squash became the "in' thing as a sport. In fact, we have to make early bookings just to get a court. When it was so popular, sponsors abound. Frequent news update about our national star players' exploits in the region and beyond made us proud as they fronted the news with great wins. You can say that we will win against most opposition in Asia except for Pakistan.

Let me throw in a few names to refresh your memory. Each and every one of them stars in their own right. Zainal Abideen, our champion of champions. Jeremy Yeo, lady champs Mah Li Lian and Trach Oh. They were like celebrities just like how we revered our soccer stars in the 70s team during the Malaysia Cup days. There was also V. Gopal whom I knew when he was at the Police Academy. Squash at that time possibly started out being made popular by the armed forces by the army and the police personnel - locals and expatriates. They were very popular in schools like SJI and RI. After the earlier batch of star players we have also very promising and successful players that came through the ranks like Stewart Ballard, Peter Hill and Desmond Hill, just to name a few as they made a name for themselves in international tournaments.

What Happened?

Then suddenly it started to decline in the 80s. The world was changing, there were also other new sports to pursue. Outdoor sports became very popular. Then it got worse by the 90s as sponsors lost interest as the sport was in decline with no star power. When the grassroots level is weak, talent stop coming through the ranks and people lose interest. Public squash courts were closing as they made way for other pursuits. Squash unlike basketball and and soccer is not a community sport where large numbers of people can participate so together with less popularity, you don't get them in schools or community centres. 


Where we were once like the Water Polo team, we sort of like just to get there to win Gold at the SEA games expecting only a tough contest with Malaysia, we did not even put a team there by 2005 nor the following Asian Games as by then we are not really up to the mark. Squash is a wonderful game which in my dream I would to play it again. It is weather-proofed, rain or lightning does not affect it. In my time, I have sparred with some very good "graded" players a few of whom are still playing the game today. Amazing!

I hope Singapore can revive this game which can give anyone a really good workout with lots of fun to boot. I may even consider gathering some old folks to revive our heroic days. We can always bring along squash gears and when there it lightning and rain, we pack our golf bags and go for squash instead. Maybe when youngsters see a few old men giving their lives to the sport we might even inspire a new revival. 


During my good days, I played with the best club, er no racket of the time - The Dunlop Black Max and could give many a run for their money. Well those who knew squash and still playing today may be laughing when I mentioned the Dunlop Black Max because it is like asking for a ransom from the world for a million bucks - today's demand at a price 20 years ago? ROFLOL. Second wind and second childhood. You bet.

The current top ranking nations in squash are Egypt, England, France and Australia with the top ten ranked players in the world being: (1) Ramy Ashour (Egypt), (2) Nick Matthew (England), (3) Amr Shabana (Egy), (4) James WIllstrop (Eng), (5) Karim Darwish (Egy), (6) Gregory Gaultier (France), (7) Peter Barker (Eng), (8) Thierry Lincou (Fra), (9) David Palmer (Australia), (10) Adrian Grant (Eng).

While for the women: (1) Nicol David (Malaysia), (2) Natalie Grinham (Netherlands), (3) Jenny Duncalf (Eng), (4) Rachael Grinham (Australia), (5) Alison Waters (Eng), (6) O. Abdel Kway (Egy), (7) Madeline Perry (Ireland), (8) Natalie Grainger (USA), (9) Laura Massaro (Eng), (10) Kasey Brown (Australia).

The Future

Singapore currently has a very talented national junior player in 19 year old Samuel Kang who at the Canadian Junior Open came in third, was rated top eight in the US Junior Open in 2009. He also bagged the Australian Junior Open in Sydney. The Aussie Open is dominated by Australians some of whom went on to become the world's top 10-20 players. Samuel is our 4-time national age group champion who also came in as champion in KL under-19 Open.

Do you know that Singapore was once ranked sixth best in the world? Zainal Abideen at 52 is still the veterans' champion. Squash is making a steady come back but is still lagging behind other high profile sports like tennis and badminton but the good news is that there are now more competitions with more players especially juniors participating. Court bookings are also increasing steadily. On television, the latest squash courts are all transparent - yes, all the four walls for larger crowds of spectators and better camera angles. Each costs some US$300,000. Someday in the near future I may invite you to play in such a squash court. One thing is for sure - I won't be shouting "ball!" I'll probably be shouting "racket!" Get out of the way!

I hope by writing this article, I can bring back fond memories for many out there who has enjoyed and still enjoying the game or have scars to show. I am just doing my old squeeze a favour. er, I mean squash.