March marks International Women’s month, and is a truly global event recognising the achievement of women throughout the ages; in the context of Squash there have been many great players from across the world; so on 2021 International Women’s Day, we look at which nation is the greatest at the sport from a ladies team perspective.
Over the years there have many milestone achievements in women’s Squash, notably the First Ladies Squash tournament in Saudi Arabia in 2018, Saudi Arabia hosted the first-ever women’s squash tournament in Riyadh; the tournament came about the reforms led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that include a lifting of restrictions on women.
Many years to this, Heather McKay of Australia became the first (and the only woman) squash player to win the British Open championship a record 16 consecutive times from 1962 to 1977, a feat that has not been matched in even the modern era.
Australian Heather McKay (Photo Credit: PSA World Tour)
In general, Women’s Squash has come a long way with a number of accomplishments and grassroots initiatives to bring more women to the sport, long may it continue.
Title, medal across the tournaments
From a team’s perspective, the question asked which nation has the best women’s Squash team?
Now, individually Nicol David of Malaysia is ranked the greatest women’s player of all time and of her generation, nevertheless, in terms of the women’s Malaysian squash team titles, their form in the World Team Squash Championship has proven fruitful with no less one silver medal and 4 bronze medals.
So, who is the most successful women’s Squash team in the World Teams Championships? The top 3, in chronological order:
Winners/Runners-up
1. Australia 9 5
2. England 8 12
3. Egypt 4 1
When it comes to the women’s European Squash teams Championships, England seems to lead the way over their European counterparts:
- England: 42 medals (40 Gold/1 Silver/1 Bronze)
- Netherlands: 21 medals (1 Gold/12 Silver/8 Bronze)
- France: 12 medals (1 Gold/6 Silver/5 Bronze)
- Ireland: 17 medals (14 Silver/3 Bronze)
- Germany:13 medals (13 Silver/6 Bronze)
- Scotland: 11 medals (1 Silver/11 Bronze)
However, from the Asian Squash Team Championships – Malaysia is the Queens of Asian Team Squash, with more gold medals than Hong Kong:
- Malaysia: 15 medals (9 Gold/2 Silver/4 Bronze)
- Hong Kong: 15 medals (4 Gold/8 Silver/3 Bronze)
- Singapore: 7 medals (3 Gold/3 Silver/ 1 Bronze)
- India: 7 medals (1 Gold/3 Silver/3 Bronze)
- South Korea: 2 medals (1 Silver/1 Bronze)
Totalling up all the titles from the European, Asian, and World Squash Teams tournaments, the top five women’s nations of all time, based on medal tally performance across all three tournaments:
- England: 60
- Malaysia: 22
- Netherlands: 21
- Ireland: 17
- Hong Kong: 15
Now, this illustrates which country is great at Squash, oddly enough England has an excellent provision for juniors – providing there are no venues shutting down because of bull-shit bureaucracy by leisure management companies, there will be continued medal success.
If judged on individual titles won by women in Squash, Australia, England, and Egypt would come out on top along with Malaysia in the top five successful women Squash players.
Getting women to continue to play beyond a grassroots level is proving to be a challenge as there needs to be more information for them to understand how the sport can benefit them in the long run, rather than the short term.
Final thoughts
As we gradually get back to normal in a post-Covid 19 world, you can expect some of the form newnesses with Squash in terms of playing both recreationally and professionally; we are in hope that the sport becomes the beacon of all sports for its health benefits for young people.
Hopefully, one-day emerging nations such as Jamaica, Barbados, and Guyana can challenge England and Malaysia for the best women’s Squash nation, along with Zambia, India, and Egypt with a world Squash team competition.
Furthermore, there are a lot more uptakes in young people taking up the sport with a view to becoming professional but see it as a sport in which they can learn about each other cultures instead of listening to the hate on social media platforms and push for the sport to take its rightful place in the Olympic Games.
