Ottawa, ON (July 24, 2020) — It is with great regret that Squash Canada announces the decision to officially cancel the 2020 Canadian Mixed Doubles Championships and the 2020 Canadian Junior Closed Championships.
Shortly after the COVID-19 lockdown first struck in this country, Squash Canada was forced to postpone the five remaining 2020 National Championships in April and May to ensure the safety of all key stakeholders involved. Since then, time was spent examining the possibility of hosting these events when and if the situation calmed down by tentatively rescheduling them for October/November 2020. However, given the implications of the pandemic still being felt, with too many risk factors remaining, Squash Canada had no other choice but to cancel the October 1-4 and October 9-12 rescheduled events.
Squash Canada conducted a COVID-19 risk assessment, and determined it was still unsafe to proceed with national level competition. Key factors at the 70-day mark from the start of the events that influenced the decision included:
- The host provincial government not currently permitting squash competition.
- The host provincial government/local public health authority’s restrictions on the number of people who may enter the facility or the squash areas.
- The fact that prospective participants will not have had adequate time to train and compete in order to be physically prepared to play many matches of high level squash in a short timespan without undue risk of injury.
- Eight provinces/territories have a requirement of a 14-day quarantine period for people once they return home from the host province.
“The safety of our players, coaches, officials, parents, volunteers, and staff is of utmost priority to Squash Canada,” says Executive Director, Dan Wolfenden. “So too was our responsibility to families and host clubs to not incur expenses if the event had to be cancelled much closer to the events. For these reasons, we have had to make some difficult decisions. We understand that players are eager to get back on court, but we ask for everyone’s patience and understanding as we navigate through these new and uncertain times. We thank the Mayfair Parkway and Lakeshore Clubs for having worked with us over the last several months to give even the slimmest of hope that we could put these events on for the Canadian squash community.”
Going forward, Squash Canada will apply the same 70-75 day risk assessment process to determine the status of the rescheduled 2020 Canadian Squash Championships, 2020 Canadian U23 Championships, and the 2020 Canadian Doubles Championships provided.
