Back in Canada, squash player Hollie Naughton energized during Olympic push

An oversized wooden squash racket hangs above a framed 2028 Los Angeles Olympics print on a pillar at Toronto's Cambridge Club.

The items serve as a reminder of where squash has been and where it's going.

The sport's long-awaited addition to the Olympic program, something many in the squash world never thought would happen, has helped fuel Canada's Hollie Naughton and others on the Pro Squash Association tour.

"You can win Pan Am Games medals, Commonwealth Games [medals], but as soon as you say, 'I'm an Olympian,' it just has a better ring to it," Naughton said Monday. "So, it would be fantastic to finish my career at the Olympics."

The road to qualification continues this week at the Canadian Women's Open and the men's SmartCentres Canada Cup, which has partnered with the women's event for the first time.

Naughton, the Canadian No. 1 and world No. 37, was scheduled to play fifth-seeded Nada Abbas of Egypt in a second-round match on Monday night in the Allen Lambert Galleria at Brookfield Place.

A four-time winner on the PSA Tour who's been ranked as high as No. 16, the 32-year-old Naughton is building up with an eye on the 2027 Lima Pan Am Games.

A title in Peru, coupled with a top-50 ranking, is one of the qualification paths to secure a spot in the 16-player women's draw in Los Angeles.

Buoyed by squash's Olympic inclusion and date change, Canadian Women's Open on rise

"There's no reason why she can't play her best squash towards the end," said former top-10 men's player Graham Ryding, who has helped coach Naughton in recent seasons. "You see that now with lots of players.

"There's no reason why she can't pull all the pieces together and finish [her career] strong."

Canadian squash player Hollie Naughton