The inclusion of Squash in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics has given the veteran players in the sport an apparent reason to try and prolong their careers. India’s Saurav Ghosal, who is already 37 is also not left out as he is forced to rethink his future plans. While the thought of making it to the Olympics tempts him to go on for another five long years, he has one big condition.
Ghosal, who is ranked World No.18 at the moment will be 42 by the time the Los Angeles Olympics get underway. He does not want to feature in the Olympics just for the sake of it. Instead he wants his body to stay at a top competitive level to go in as a strong contender and fight for the medal.
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Saurav Ghosal doesn’t just want to be part of Olympics
“If I do the Olympics, I want to do it only if I have a shot. I don’t want to do it just to be there. Of course, being an Olympian is a big honour, but I don’t think I’ll be putting in the effort over the next five years just to be an Olympian. I want to go in with a shot,” said Ghosal as quoted by Sportstar.
“Physically, whether I can sustain it till I’m 41–42, and mentally too, are all things to think about,” he added. Ghosal, a 13-time National Champion has been a trial blazer. In the junior circuit, he was the first Indian to be ranked World No.1. He then became the Indian to win an Asian Games medal back in 2006.
Last year, he bagged the country’s first-ever individual Gold medal in Men’s Singles at the Commonwealth Games. He has so far won a total of 9 medals at the Asian Games and three Commonwealth Games medals.
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Squash in Olympics
Much recently he won the silver medal in Men’s Singles at the Asian Games. However he was part of a generation that spent a great amount of time in promoting squash to the Olympics.
The decision to finally include the sport in the LA 2028 Olympics was taken during the 141ST IOC Session held recently in Mumbai. Squash was included in the Olympics among four other sports that also includes cricket.
“It is a sense of relief and ecstasy. In life, they said there is time for everything and this is probably the time for squash. I wish I was 10 years younger,” Ghosal had said soon after the announcement last week.
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