The Professional Squash Association (PSA) have today announced that
they will conduct a four month trial, beginning in September 2015,
into the suitability of reducing the height of the tin in
competitive women’s matches from 19” to 17” - the current standard
in the men’s professional game.
The trial will take place across the professional game with some of
the sport’s most prestigious events to feature an all-glass
show-court, such as the Women’s World Championship, taking part in
the trial with September’s 2015 China Open becoming the first event
ever to see the world’s top female players compete with the lower
tin.
The PSA joined forces with the Women’s Squash Association earlier
this year to create a unified governing body for the first time in
the history of professional squash and this latest initiative is
part of a series of changes aimed at increasing equality between the
tours and bringing both the men’s and women’s tours into line.
“The tin height is currently one of the main fundamental differences
between the men’s and women’s games, with the men having competed on
a 17” tin as standard for several years,” said PSA Chief Operations
Officer Lee Beachill.
‘We feel that aligning the tin height is an important step to take
in order to achieve our goals of increasing parity and offering both
men and women the same playing opportunities.
“This change will encourage more attacking play and add a new
dimension to the women’s game and we look forward to watching with
interest the impact the change will have during the next few
months.”
Former Women’s World Champion Laura Massaro has backed the move,
saying that she thinks the decision will lead to a positive change
in the women’s game and is looking forward to competing under the
new rules come September.
“I think it’s important that the sport tries to move in different
directions at times and this change is a good move and one I’m
looking forward to,” said Massaro.
“I believe it will make the women’s game more attacking and will
have a positive impact with more winners winning points and rallies
as opposed to errors, and that will also help with the television
coverage as the shots will look better.
“It’s also important that there’s no difference between the women’s
and the men’s tin in order to make the game easier to understand for
the public and to remove the complication of changing tin heights
during joint competitions.”
