Belgium's Christopher Votion Wins The Clubs Squash Open 2025

The annual tournament, "The Clubs" Squash Open 2025, was held on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 January 2025 at the Top Squash Sandweiler club, bringing together nearly 50 participants from Luxembourg, France, Belgium and Germany.

The tournament was co-organised by four clubs: European Union Squash Club, Angels, Top Squash, and Sandweiler. Eric Pécheur, President of the Sandweiler club and FSL Technical Committee Administrator, shared with Chronicle.lu the motivation behind starting the competition over a decade ago: "After the Christmas break, it's good to encourage people to return to squash. This tournament is a way to inspire our players to do their best for the sport. Having four clubs represented here at Top Squash, with many teams and players - almost half of the federation's players - is significant. It's a great tournament and means a lot."

This year, The Clubs Squash Open 2025 featured 46 players, including six women. Among the participants were Sandra Denis, a 23-time Luxembourg national champion, and Enas Mohamed, a member of Luxembourg’s national squash team. Players were divided into three divisions based on rankings, each featuring sixteen participants.

The tournament's top seed, Belgian Christopher Votion, a former top-three junior in his country, reached the final where he faced German Rudolf Fries. The match lasted 31 minutes, making it Votion's longest of the evening. However, he dominated the game, securing a straight-set victory: Votion – Fries 11:5, 11:2, 11:0.

Reflecting on his win, Christopher Votion, now a squash coach with seventeen years of experience in the sport, emphasised the value of sharing his passion: "Now my passion is to share my knowledge in this sport. Maybe if you look at the score, it's quite brutal, but at the end, I'm trying to make them enjoy this moment with me, and that's what is important for me today. I never played PSA - professional squash - because I didn't have the money or time, life got in the way. I work as a squash development agent in France, and I coach freelance for a club in Luxembourg. Now it's about sharing and helping people enjoy the sport because it’s amazing, and in three years, it will be Olympic."

The International Olympic Committee approved squash's inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games two years ago, alongside baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse (sixes), and T20 cricket. Squash has never previously been part of the Olympic Games, though it was a demonstration sport at the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games.

Eric Pécheur, co-organiser of The Clubs Squash Open 2025, highlighted the need for more squash facilities in Luxembourg to expand participation and host similar club tournaments: "We have courts here in Luxembourg City at Top Squash and Kockelscheuer. There are clubs in Pétange and Ettelbruck with facilities provided by the commune [municipality], but we lack courts in the South, for example, in Esch-sur-Alzette or Dudelange. We used to have courts in Esch, Mondorf and Foetz, but they're gone now. More courts in various towns and cities would improve participation in our sport."

Luxembourg's most prestigious squash tournament, the Top Squash Open, will take place on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 March 2025. It typically features eight players from the Professional Squash Association (PSA) rankings. Commenting on the event, Eric Pécheur explained: "It's more of demonstration games for them. It's not really a competition, but we have other draws where we see some great competitive matches."