Chennai: Encouraged by the progress made by Indian sub-junior and junior squash players, Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) has decided to have the Nationals for them conducted at the newly set up glass courts here.

The use of the glass courts, set up for 12th World Junior Men's Championship to be held in December, for the sub-junior and junior national (boys and girls) was part of SRFI's steps in lifting the standard of the sport with a view to putting India in the world squash map, federation secretary general N Ramachandran told a press conference on Tuesday.

The sub-junior and junior nationals would be held from October 28 to November 1 and would also provide a launching pad for the competitors for the world championship, he said.

He said 250 entries had been received from 14 state associations affiliated to the SRFI for the events to be held for under-11, 13, 15, 17 and 19 age group categories.

“The largest contingent comes from the hosts, Tamil Nadu, with 62 entries. This is a testimony to the relentless efforts of the state association to promote and develop squash in the state in a big way,” Ramachandran said.

He expressed happiness that three of the four-member Indian squad that competed in the recent Busan Asian Games were from Tamil Nadu and that all of them performed creditably losing out to higher rated players in the quarter-final stage.

PTI