Dame Devoy Elected Onto WSF Board

The World Squash Federation (WSF) Conference & AGM in Chennai, India, has concluded with the introduction of a number of exciting changes, plus the election of two Vice Presidents including New Zealand's Dame Susan Devoy.

Devoy, an eight-time British Open champion and four-time World Open champion, maintained the number one position in the women's world squash rankings continuously between 1983 and 1992 and has since held a range of senior leadership roles within New Zealand including Race Relations Commissioner between 2015 and 2018.

India's Debendranath Sarangi has been re-elected for a second term. Sarangi is the current President of the Squash Rackets Federation of India and has held a number of senior administrative roles in the Tamil Nadu government and non-executive director roles within major Indian companies.

The WSF Board is comprised of the following members: Zena Wooldridge OBE (England), Pablo Serna (Colombia), Karim Darwish (Egypt), Debendranath Sarangi (India) and Susan Devoy (New Zealand).

This year's AGM also saw the unanimously approval for the ratification of full membership of Lithuania, Romania and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Member Nation Federations also approved by a large majority the motions to amend the Squash57 Standard Rules with effect from January 2023 and to support the introduction of a separate U23 Men's and Women's Individual Championships to the WSF calendar.

In addition to the election, the WSF announces the relaunch of the World Cup in 2023 following the signature of a multi-year agreement with the Squash Rackets Federation of India, with the first edition of this new format World Cup to take place in Chennai in 2023.

Zena Wooldridge, the WSF President, said "India is both an important territory and valued partner for the World Squash Federation, with a strong track record of supporting the WSF and delivering some memorable world events.

"After a three-year break in our conference due to Covid, this conference and AGM has been critically important and has been hugely successful in bringing the WSF family back together in person and we are most appreciative of the hospitality and generous support of the SRFI for hosting us in Chennai.

"We look forward to our renewed collaboration to support a transformation of our sport over the next few years."

Narayana Ramachandran, Patron of Squash Rackets Federation of India, added: "We are delighted to host another WSF event in Chennai. We will work closely with World Squash, the Tamil Nadu Government and the Tamil Nadu Squash Rackets Association to ensure the event is a great success."