Chiripal Squash Excellence Programme: Building India's Next Squash Generation, One Racket at A Time

Squash enters the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with the country carrying both a strong record and an unfinished ambition. 

Since making its debut in 1998, it has given India 18 medals, including three golds. Yet India is still chasing its first Asian Games singles gold. 

That gap between individual potential and depth is central to the next phase. While India has produced players such as Saurav Ghosal, Dipika Pallikal, Joshna Chinappa, Ramit Tandon and Anahat Singh, the challenge is to build a wider base capable of sustaining international success.

 It is against that backdrop that the Chiripal Squash Excellence Programme has taken up a long-term role in developing the sport, from grassroots participation and competitive exposure to high-performance support.

For Ronak Chiripal, promoter of the Chiripal Group, that gap is precisely where the opportunity lies.

“The foundation is very strong for the sport. The federation has done a great job till now. We've got good flag bearers in most of the different generations,” Ronak said. 

The challenge, he believes, is bringing those strengths together and making squash more accessible beyond its traditional centres. “We definitely are looking at a full ecosystem; the first plan is to kind of have a feeding ground for a lot of students to pick up rackets at a young age,” he added.

 Through the programme, structured beginner-level coaching now reaches 110 youngsters, while grassroots clinics have engaged 151 players across six cities and eight locations, with schools, clubs and academies helping expand access. 

“We're trying to focus on getting more clinics, getting more competitions, getting more coaching at a grassroots level,” Ronak said. 

For Ramit Tandon, such exposure is particularly relevant for a sport that still struggles with accessibility and depth. India currently has only six players in the world's top 100, he noted, underlining the need for a wider competitive base. 

“The gap is the system,” Tandon said, arguing that India's challenge is not simply funding individual athletes, but creating the structure connecting grassroots participation with high performance.

The programme is consequently being built around a longer-term view of development. 

It has hosted five tournaments with more than 1,073 player participations across different levels, drawing competitors from over 19 states. Alongside international exposure through PSA Satellite and ASF events, it has generated more than 1,334 cumulative player engagements across coaching, clinics and competitions, while supporting eight athletes across junior and elite levels. 

The broader ambition is to create an environment in which a child picking up a racket has a clearer pathway from participation to competition and eventually elite sport. 

“The day we started thinking about it, of course, we were not thinking of a short-term plan. We were thinking about it long-term,” Ronak said. 

“The driver has to be that cultural shift to remove that insecurity in the athlete's mind or the parent's mind,” he added. 

For Tandon, the next stage will require stronger high-performance structures, including hubs where India's best players can train together and learn from international competition.

“For the sport, we need a setup like that. We need to bring foreign talent, we need to bring foreign coaches, and we need to get the best players in the country training and sparring with each other,” he said. 

The aim is not simply to produce one successful player, but to make success repeatable.

Suraj Kumar Chand offers a timely example of what that pathway can look like. 

The 25-year-old Mumbai-based player enters the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after the biggest individual result of his career, winning the men's singles title at the 2026 FISU World University Championship in Mumbai. He will make his Asian Games debut as part of India's men's team and mixed doubles pairing with Shameena Riaz. 

“You just can't go and participate and come back. You have to do your best when you're wearing that India jersey. It's pressure and privilege at the same time,” he said. 

The Chiripal Squash Excellence Programme became part of Chand's journey at the start of 2026, supporting travel, training, tournaments, nutrition and coaching.

His immediate target is to make the most of his Asian Games opportunity and help India challenge for another medal, while his longer-term goal is to break into the world's top 40-50. 

With the country entering another Olympics cycle and squash moving towards its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028, the challenge is no longer just identifying talent. It is building the pathway that allows that talent to keep flourishing.