Outdoor squash at NSCI

National Sports Club of India is gearing up to host the 4th NSCI All India Junior and Senior Open tournament. This year, the multi sporting venue in Worli has been busy in erecting an outdoor all glass (four-sided) court to make an experience for the players and increase the number of spectators.

The six-day four-star tournament is being organised by NSCI with LIC of India as the co-partner and will be conducted under the auspices of Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI).

“All the participants, especially junior players are excited about it. This will be first time experience for them playing in such a court in front of cheering crowd. For spectators it will be an experience to watch top Indian and Mumbai players from close quarters,” said Rakesh Jain, NSCI Squash Convenor.

This is probably the first club in the city to hold a national-level domestic tournament for Indian players in an all-glass court. Matches would simultaneously be played in the club’s four glass-back indoor courts. Earlier clubs like Cricket Club of India have erected such open courts but only for Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournaments.

Leading junior boys and girls and the top-ranked men squash players and women from the country will be seen in action vying for the top prize in the Rs 5,50,000 prize money (Rs 4,00,000 for the junior events and Rs 1,50,000 for the senior category) tournament. A total of 383 players have confirmed their participation in the various events of this tournament.

“The sole aim to spend around eight lakhs on the rented open court is to promote squash and make it a spectacle. The matches will be played on Open court from day one depending on the draws. Besides, the four indoor courts will also be used for the matches. Squash enthusiasts can closely follow all the squash action as arrangements have been made for ‘live’ streaming of matches on YouTube, Facebook and India Squash TV,” Jain revealed.

Competitions will be conducted for boys’ and girls’ in the U-11, U-13, U-15, U-17 and U-19 age categories and men and women open. This will be a direct knockout format.

“Top players from the country like Abhishek Pradhan in men’s category and Urwashi Joshi in women’s category will be participating in the tournament. The Junior field is also competitive with top players like Veer Chotrani participating,” Jain said.