The final Platinum event of the year, the Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open 2025, took place from 1st-7th December, with Nour El-Sherbini returning to winning ways and Mostafa Asal claiming his second Platinum title of the season. Behind the scenes but in the midst of the action, officiating once again played a crucial role to ensure the success of the event. Over the week-long event, our team of 9 Officials worked tirelessly to ensure the event ran smoothly and safely on-court.
With 60 matches taking place throughout the event, the team were immediately immersed in the action with a packed opening day of 32 matches. The Referees who oversaw the duration of the event had their fair share of match appointments. Andrea Santamaria and Jason Foster (England) were both appointed to 10 matches as Match Referee, with Tahir Khanzada (Pakistan) also receiving 10 Match Referee appointments and local Level 4 Referee Anthony So (Hong Kong, China), overseeing 9 matches. The remaining matches were overseen by local Referees Pinky Li, Amos Yuen, Winnie So and Wilson Chan, as well as Malaysian Naved Kashif Khan. Video Review was in play from Round 1 at the Hong Kong Squash Centre, with 35 total appointments to the role across the event. Andrea, Jason, Anthony and Tahir each undertook 7 Video Referee (VR) appointments across the event, while Pinky, Amosand Winnie shared 7 VR appointments between them.
Throughout the event, 3811 points were scored by players, and a total of 684 decisions were made by the team of Referees, at an average of 11.4 per match. Of these 684 decisions, there were 257 Strokes (37.6%), 250 Yes Lets (36.5%) and 177 No Lets (25.9%). This is down from the 2024 iteration, where 816 decisions were made over 62 matches, an average of 13.1 decisions per match, evidencing a commitment from both players and Referees to ensure free flowing, entertaining squash. We also saw a much different distribution of decisions in 2024, with 284 Strokes (34.8%), 330 Yes Lets (40.4%) and 202 No Lets (24.8%).
With Video Review in place from Round 1, we saw a total of 75 decisions reviewed by players across the 7 days. Of those 75 reviews, 45 were upheld by the Video Referee (60%), with 30 being overruled (40%). With Video Referees largely agreeing that the on-court decision was correct, we are continuing to work towards a consistent language of refereeing on the PSA Squash Tour, while still offering the opportunity to ensure that a fair outcome of the rally is achieved.
Both Finals of the 2025 Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open were fairly low-key affairs for the Referees, with Asal and El-Sherbini both claiming 3-0 victories. In doing so, there were total of 25 decisions across both matches, equating to an average of a decision every 4.12 points. While this may have been the case, the constant hard work, dedication and training of our appointed Officials cannot be overlooked, and we thank them for their efforts throughout the week.
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