Commonwealth Gold squash winner hopes to compete at Olympics
BY DAVINA HYDE
A squash player who won the Commonwealth Gold this year hopes that the sport one day will make it to the Olympics.
Gina Kennedy said: “The Commonwealth Games has been my target since I graduated from Havard in 2020, and winning gold has been my best achievement yet.
“My next goal is to reach top five in the world ranking.”
The 25 year-old has been playing at Parklangley Squash Club in Beckenham since she was nine.
None of her family are sporty, but she loved sports, and joined the squash club with a friend who wanted to start playing squash.
The squash star said: “I fell in love with it, played recreationally for a couple of years, was still doing other sports, tennis, running, and football competitively, then I chose to focus on squash around 13 years old because I enjoyed it the most.”
She moved over to Bexley Squash Club when she was 12 years old, to be coached by Ben Ford who still coaches and trains her now. She plays twice a day, six times a week.
Her hard work has paid off, and she has climbed from 167 ranking in the world to eighth and has played a number of tournaments abroad including America and Egypt.
Gina said: “So many people play squash but no one watches it, and it would enhance the viewership if the sport was shown on TV.
“Having the Commonwealth Games on the BBC where people were able to watch it did increase the viewership, and we got a lot of recognition then”.
Gina’s squash club, Parklangley Sports Club in Beckenham, is also home to Emma Raducanu, the tennis star.
The World Squash Federation did apply for the sport to be included in the 2024 Olympics but was edged out by a number of other sports.
England Squash run a number of squash initiatives to get more people playing squash, such as England Squash’s initiative Squash Stars.
Pictured top: Gina Kennedy is ranked eighth in the world at squash (Picture: Sam Mellish/Team England)
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