Teams Announced for November’s Nations Cup

21 October 2022

Eight teams will battle for supremacy at the inaugural Nations Cup between November 3-6, with men’s World No.2 Paul Coll and women’s World No.5 Joelle King teaming up to represent host nation New Zealand in Tauranga.

Held at the Trustpower Arena, the Nations Cup is the first iteration of the new SquashFORWARD series which has been created in order to trial changes to the traditional competition and scoring formats used at official tournaments, including those on the PSA Tour.

Coll and King – both Commonwealth Games gold medallists in the summer – will make their first competitive appearances on home soil in over five years. Seeded second is England, who will be represented by former men’s World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy and women’s World No.8 Sarah-Jane Perry.

The No.3 seeds are Team Europe – represented by men’s World No.34 Sebastien Bonmalais and women’s World No.13 Nele Gilis – while Scotland is seeded fourth and will see men’s and women’s World No.29s Greg Lobban and Lisa Aitken feature.

Other nations to take part are Canada (David Baillargeon and Hollie Naughton), United States (Timothy Brownell & Olivia Clyne), Australia (Jessica Turnbull and Rex Hedrick) and the New Zealand ‘B’ team (Lwamba Chileshe and Kaitlyn Watts).

The eight teams will be split into two groups of four, with the top teams from each group meeting in the final. The second-place teams from each group will contest the third-place playoff.

A fixture will feature a men’s and a women’s match with the overall team score to be determined in the following order: (1) the number of matches won; (2) the number of games won; (3) the number of points won.

The Nations Cup will use a best-of-seven games scoring format throughout the event. Each game will be first to seven points. If the game scores are locked at 6-6, a sudden-death point will be played, with the winner of that rally taking the game. Each player can opt for a ‘Power Play’ twice per match where he or she can win two points.

The new scoring format was decided following engagement with the squash community, with votes being cast on a series of proposed scoring formats during April-May on the PSA World Tour website.

Group A will consist of New Zealand, Scotland, Canada and Australia, while England, Europe, United States and New Zealand ‘B’ will make up Group B.

Group stage action will begin on Thursday November 3 at 13:00 (GMT+13). Four fixtures will be played per night for the first three days of the event until the group stage has drawn to a close.

Group stage matches will take place at 13:00, 14:30, 18:00 and 19:30 between November 3-5. The third-place playoff will be held at 13:00 on Sunday November 6, with the final beginning at 15:00.

The Nations Cup will be broadcast live on SQUASHTV, as will the New Zealand Open, which features the Roberston Lodges NZ Men’s Open and the Barfoot & Thompson NZ Women’s Open. Both are PSA World Tour Silver events and will be played at the Trustpower Arena between November 8-13.

For more information on the Nations Cup and to purchase tickets, visit the official tournament website.

2022 Nations Cup: Teams