South Africa will host the World Masters Squash Championships again in 2028, the same year in which the sport will make its debut at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. World Squash has awarded the event to Squash South Africa -SquashSA-, which will stage matches across several venues in Johannesburg and the province of Gauteng. It will be the fourth edition held in the country, following the championships in 1997, 2006 and 2016. The dates, schedule and entry procedures are still to be confirmed, although organisers have announced that entries will open in 2027.
The scale of the challenge can be measured against this year’s World Masters in Perth, where more than 900 players from over 55 countries competed across one week. Held every two years and open to men and women aged 35 and above, the event brings several generations of athletes together in the same host city and makes the championship considerably broader than a conventional professional tournament. Participants must travel, stay and compete for several days, often accompanied by relatives or fellow players. SquashSA is therefore presenting the 2028 edition as a sporting, social and tourism event capable of capitalising on the increased visibility created by squash’s Olympic debut.
A World Masters for players aged 35 to over 80
The age groups will progress in five-year intervals and, depending on entries, may extend to an Over-85 men’s division and an Over-80 women’s category. Each player will compete against opponents from a similar age group for the corresponding world title. The programme also aims to keep players involved after they have been eliminated from the main draws through social doubles and Squash 57 activities, a variation played with a shorter racket and a larger, bouncier ball. These additional events will extend participation and strengthen the community aspect of a championship also designed to reconnect players with opponents and friends from previous editions.
South Africa’s relationship with the tournament began in Johannesburg in 1997, continued in Cape Town in 2006 and returned to the so-called ‘City of Gold’ ten years later. World Squash president Zena Wooldridge has a personal connection with that history because the 1997 tournament was her first World Masters as a player. “I have some great stories and lovely memories from the event, including the exceptionally warm welcome from the hosts,” she explained. Wooldridge highlighted South Africa’s experience in staging World Squash’s largest championship and the role its players have performed within the international Masters community for decades.
Three venues within a six-kilometre radius
The proposed venues for the 2028 edition are the Parkview Squash Centre, The Country Club Johannesburg at Auckland Park and The Wanderers Club, which will stage the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. The three complexes are located approximately six kilometres apart, a compact arrangement intended to reduce the amount of time participants spend travelling. Transport will also operate between designated hotels and the courts. Accommodation will be centred primarily in Rosebank, a district with restaurants, shops and a Gautrain station providing connections to other parts of Johannesburg and Gauteng.
The organisational structure will be supported by a tournament and events committee whose members have already helped deliver previous World Masters Championships in the country. Private backing from mining company Assore Mining will also prove decisive. SquashSA general manager Jennifer Sawyer explicitly thanked the company and Des Sacco for their contribution towards making the championship possible. The value of the agreement has not been disclosed, but the relationship is not new: Assore was already one of the sponsors of the 2016 Johannesburg World Masters and remains involved in South African national and professional squash competitions. That continuity gives the federation a partner familiar with the requirements of a tournament involving hundreds of international participants.
Competing while turning the tournament into a journey
Organisers have summarised their proposal with the slogan ‘Reconnect. Compete. Explore’, combining a return to competition with social interaction and the opportunity to discover the country. The planned period between September and October will coincide with the South African spring and fall outside the main holiday season. The championship website encourages players to extend their stay to visit wildlife reserves, mountain regions, winelands, coastal destinations or Cape Town. There is no estimate of the potential economic impact yet, but the Masters format creates a different relationship with its host: many participants approach the journey as a complete personal and sporting experience, rather than travelling only to enter a professional draw and leaving the city after elimination.
The World Masters will also coincide with a decisive year for squash’s international profile. Los Angeles 2028 will include the sport on the Olympic programme for the first time, with men’s and women’s singles events at the Comcast Squash Center at Universal Studios. The two events are independent and the Masters has no role in Olympic qualification, but they will present two complementary expressions of the sport in the same year. While the leading professional players compete for squash’s first Olympic medals, Johannesburg will welcome athletes ranging from 35 to beyond 80 years of age. South Africa will use the momentum of 2028 to bring back a World Championships it already knows, support it through private investment and present it as an international competition capable of extending beyond the courts.
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