Update: IOC Confirms Final Athlete Quotas for LA28 – Squash Draws Reduced to 16 Players Per Gender
- Markus Gaebel
- Apr 10
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 11
On April 9th, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released the outcomes of its latest Executive Board meeting, confirming the official program for the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 (LA28). The overall programme features 351 medal events—22 more than in Paris 2024—while maintaining a core athlete quota of 10,500.
Squash at LA28: From 32 to 16 Draws – A Major Shift
For squash, which is set to make its Olympic debut, this announcement brought a major change: the confirmed draw sizes are now just 16 players per gender, not the previously discussed 32. This adjustment is a significant setback for the sport’s global community, which had expected larger draws following the sport’s inclusion in LA28.
The reduced quotas place squash as one of the smallest standalone sports at LA28, matching trampolining and smaller than even BMX Freestyle (which is part of cycling).
What This Means Going Forward
This change will now force a rethink from the World Squash Federation (WSF) and Professional Squash Association (PSA) regarding the qualification process, especially considering how competitive the pathway will be with only 16 spots per gender.
Key implications include:
More competitive ranking pressure: A limited number of places means only the highest-performing athletes will make the cut.
Qualification programme adjustments: Original ideas involving a broader mix of rankings and regional qualification events will need to be re-evaluated.
Continental representation: Ensuring fair and global access under such limited quotas will be a challenge.
Further announcements from World Squash and US Squash regarding the updated qualification roadmap are expected in the coming weeks.
Background
In September 2024, SFN reported that squash officials were working with the IOC on a 32-player singles format per gender. Yesterday's decision marks a U-turn that will have ripple effects across athlete preparation, event planning, and national federation strategies.
SFN will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide updates as soon as more details are released.
It is really a sad news for the Squash players and enthusiasts around the World and a major set back for even minimal sportsmanship hopes of the players coming from smaller countries. On the other side it is against genuine values of Olympic movement and fair representation for all the continents in a single sport discipline. If we want to develop squash as an appealing global sport, those who play the sport and work hard every day should be rewarded with a fair qualification structure and quotas at least comparative to much less popular and participated sports represented at LA2028.
It's not a good sign to see Squash further included for the 2032 games. Reminder Squash is only there in LA28 because he has been proposed by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, i.e. the USA
While sad for squash it does it does point the way for only the best in each sport should be chosen and other codes in certain countries should learn from this and maybe realish that not all can be medal winners.