World squash believes its debut Olynpic competition being cut to a 16-strong singles field will benefit the sport.
Squash will be played on a single glass court over 10 days at Universal Studios for the men’s and women’s competitions.
It will be staged in the evenings with a 16-player field and the sport will be hoping to make a memorable visual impact as it aims to stay in the Games beyond 2028.
World Squash president Zena Wooldridge said that the sport had been hoping for a 32-strong draw in each tournament, but this was cut due to budgets. However, this might work to squash’s long-term benefit.
She said: “Every cloud has a silver lining. We probably need a maximum of six officials as well for the whole event, so we’re a very small footprint in terms of numbers.
“We’re low cost in terms of both athletes and in terms of infrastructure.
“We’re only one court. We play on one court, and we have one practice court in the athletes’ village. And we will bring the courts with us, so that’s not a cost to the organising committee either.”
Squash is no guarantee beyond 2028, with host cities now having their say in which sports can come in or be chopped.
Wooldridge told Reuters: “We believe it will help us in terms of the economics and trying to stay in and trying to stay in the Olympics for Brisbane (2032) because we’re low footprint and low cost.
“We need to squeeze as much value out of being an Olympic sport as we possibly can.
“We hope that in the middle of that process between now and LA, we can convince Brisbane to keep us in, and that will be a further impetus on top of that.
“In many ways it’s been a real boost and a springboard for the sport. We instantly saw a huge surge in the motivation of players and we’ve seen an increase in funding into the sport for many, if not most, nations.”
She also noted that there was a “greater ability” to attract sponsorship due to the increase in profile.
Top tier sponsorship is something that has failed to materialise in the elite game over the years, with the main squash tour unable to find a major partner.