COVID-19: Squash national circuit suspended until April 30

KOCHI: The Squash Federation of India (SRFI) announced that it was suspending the squash season in the country until April 30 because of the COVID-19 situation.
Following the outbreak of the virus and directives from the authorities, the SRFI became the latest national sports federation to suspend all its activities. "In the interest and safety of all concerned, the SRFI has suspended all its events/activities until the end of April," said an SRFI statement posted on Facebook on Monday evening.
The SRFI national ranking tournaments were to resume from March 27 at IIT, Powai in Mumbai.The GD Goenka Junior Open, Indore (April 20 to 24), second SRFI Southern Slam, Chennai (April 26 to 30) which are part of the national circuit have now been put on hold.
Two international events – the PSA-SRFI India Tour, Indore leg (April 18 to 21) and Chennai leg (April 26 to 29) – too have been suspended. Three state championships (Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Haryana) scheduled during the period and the Bengaluru Masters Squash Open to be held from April 9 to 12 has been postponed.
"Once we get clarity from the authorities, we will decide our future course of plan for the season," an SRFI official told TOI on Tuesday. "Till we get clearance from the Union/state governments all events including coaches’ courses, referees clinics, state closed championships, PSA events, national circuit, trials to select various teams for internationals, camps have been suspended," he added.
The last SRFI tournament was the prestigious National Championships at Chennai which concluded on February 15.
The Asian Team Championship, a major of the year in the continent, scheduled to begin in Malaysia from March 25 was postponed by the Asian Squash Federation two weeks back.