A new star was born at the Oncocare National Junior Squash Championships and her name is Ong Zhe Sim. The timid Secondary 2 student from Methodist Girls School defied the odds to win not one, but both the Girls’ Under-17 and Under-19 titles. Her win also marks the first time top national junior Gracia Chua has been beaten in at least the last five years in a local junior event.

Samuel Kang created history this afternoon when he won his fifth National Squash Championships in a row after producing a commanding display to see off arch-rival Aaron Liang in straight games at the Kallang Squash Centre. His win today broke the previous consecutive titles record shared between himself and Singapore legend Zainal Abidin Malik, who won four in a row in 1979-1982.

We entered 2021 on a positive note with the year starting with Singapore in Phase 3, which allowed all of us back on the courts.

Singapore Squash had a good run of events throughout the year, but some mainstays of our event calendar were hard hit by the regressions to two Heightened Alerts in May and June – namely the National Squash League (NSL) and the Squash Ball.

The NSL was slated to commence in May. Singapore Squash worked closely with all squash clubs to understand the possible constraints each club would face in a league setting, with Safe Measure Management (SMM) in place.

The challenges and constraints were met and the League was split into two seasons with only one grade playing per weekday evening. Alas, it was not meant to be as the nation reverted to Phase 2 in May 2021, and remained in Heightened Alert until August.

The Squash Ball, which was scheduled in the second half of the year, was further postponed with the ever-changing SMMs. We are back onto the drawing board once again and are hoping to have this in the later part of 2022.

Undaunted by the SMMs in place, Singapore Squash successfully organised several tournaments and events throughout the year, but without spectators to add to the sporting atmosphere.