Byrtus Stuns No.4 Seed Kandra As Squash Gets Underway At World Games In Chengdu

The squash competitions at The World Games began with an almighty shock as No.4 seed Raphael Kandra of Germany crashed out to Viktor Byrtus of Czechia.

The World Games 2025, the 12th edition of the multi-sport event, is taking place in Chengdu, China, from 7-17 August 2025. The squash competitions, 32-draw men's and women's individual events, are taking place from 8-12 August at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Centre.

Kandra went into today's match with a 2/0 head-to-head record against Byrtus, but was second best today as the 24-year-old reaped the rewards of a high-tempo performance.

Despite being ranked 71 places below Kandra, Byrtus made the stronger start, setting his stall out early as he took the first three points of the match.

Kandra, twice a quarter-finalist in the event, reduced the deficit and led 8-7, but Byrtus recovered to take the opener 11-8. Taking energy and belief from that win, Byrtus enjoyed far more control in the subsequent games, taking a pair of 11-5 victories to earn a round two appearance at his maiden World Games.

"I'm a bit speechless!" Byrtus said afterwards. "I've been looking up to Raphi ever since I started playing squash and we're teammates in the German League, so it was a bit emotional to play today.

"I feel so proud to represent my country here and I'm sure my colleagues in the team would say the same thing, there's a great team spirit and we always perform really well in the team events."

Kandra wasn't the only highly seeded player to exit prematurely in Chengdu, with Ukrainian No.8 seed Alina Bushma another early casualty as she fell to Croatia's Franka Vidovic after a five-game battle.

The match looked like it was going to seedings in game one as Bushma made a confident start, taking the opener 11-4.

Despite being ranked over 130 places below Bushma, world No.198 Vidovic fired back in game two 11-3 and then moved into the lead with a close 11-9 win in game three.

Bushma restored parity as she took game four 11-9 to force a fifth game but Vidovic held firm, finding inspiration at the end when she needed it most as she pulled away from 7-7 to 11-7 in the decider.

Afterwards, Vidovic said: "That felt amazing, it's my biggest win yet and I'm so happy it happened here in Chengdu.

"The World Games is so big: the organisation has been amazing and there's been so much effort put into this event, which makes the win so much more special.

"I've been planning this since March when my coach told me I'd qualified. It's the biggest event I've ever played and obviously such a huge honour, right next to the Olympic Games in terms of competitions in the world. And it's just a huge honour to represent Croatia here and I'm so happy to win my first match."

Elsewhere in the event, the youngest competitor in The World Games this year, 13-year-old Yin Zi Yuan of China, exited the competition after a 3/0 loss to Japanese top seed Satomi Watanabe.

Yin was one of eleven representatives of China Squash in action today, with the hosts selecting a young crop of players as they look to capitalise on the rapidly expanding grassroots squash scene throughout the country.

Though all the hosts' players lost out today, there will be optimism for the Plate competitions, which will begin tomorrow.

Elsewhere, there were more seeding upsets in both draws. In the men's event, Josue Enriquez of Guatemala defeated Colombia's Ronald Palomino in straight games, and in the women's event Hungary's Hannah Chukwu beat Austria's Jacqueline Peychär and France's Kara Lincou came back from a game down to beat Colombia's Lucia Bautista.

In one of the matches of the day, Guatemala's Alejandro Enriquez fought back from two games down to beat Czechia's Jakub Solnicky and set up a round two match with Swiss No.8 seed Yannick Wilhelmi.