Andrea Montolivo |
Chicago (USA), (EFE).- Squash has a new king. And he is Peruvian. Diego Elías recently reached the top of the world in a sport historically dominated by Egypt. Born in Lima, he is the new face of a fast-growing sport. Red Bull, Adidas and Dunlop sponsor him. He has been a professional since he was 16 years old and plays between 15 and 20 tournaments a year. The ‘Puma’ tells in an interview with EFE in Chicago what life is like for the number one in the world.
The son of José Manuel Elías, Peruvian national squash champion, Diego grew up in the Lima neighborhood of Miraflores and trained at Club Terrazas. In a few years he went from the junior tournaments to the professional circuit. He now lives in Boca Raton (Florida) and travels to the five continents to play tournaments. The last one he participated in, this week’s PSA World Championship in Chicago, split $1 million in prize money between the men’s and women’s draws.
Six hours of training a day, the competitive soul inherited from his family and the help of great coaches such as Canadian Jonathon Power helped him achieve his dream of being number one in the world.
“I started playing squash at a very young age in Miraflores, in Lima, my father played in that club for a long time, he was a national champion and from there my interest was born. I started playing junior, South American, American, and then international tournaments and since I was 16 years old I have been a professional,” Elías said in an interview with EFE.
The first South American number 1
He recently broke Egypt’s dominance in squash and is the first South American player capable of reaching the top of the world ranking.
“Coming from Peru it is not easy, it was a lot of sacrifice, living abroad, traveling a lot. I have had many coaches from many sites who have supported me. It was amazing to get to number one, it was a dream come true, I’m enjoying it. The power in squash is Egypt, also England, France”, assured Elías.
He plays between fifteen and twenty tournaments per season and always travels accompanied by his father, who also follows him in the long daily training sessions.
“I train, between physical preparation, squash and therapies, about five or six hours a day. Between fitness and injury prevention I train for a couple of hours, about two hours of squash and a couple of hours of therapies”, says the ‘Puma’.
Multinationals sponsor the N.1
At 26 years old, Elías is an absolute benchmark for squash and an unbeatable profile to promote this sport in Latin America.
He always competes with a Red Bull bandana, red and white like the Peruvian flag. His racket is Dunlop and his kit is sponsored by Adidas.
These multinationals are joined by other brands such as the Canadian Penguin Pickup or Expression Network, among others.
“We’re going little by little, but since I got to number one, which was just three weeks ago, I’ve been mostly preparing for the Chicago tournament, trying to be away from everything and be mentally prepared,” Elías admits.
Chicago, the highest prize pool ever
The PSA World Championship in Chicago is the most important tournament of the squash season and this year it distributed a total of one million dollars, 500,000 for the men’s circuit and 500,000 for the women’s circuit.
In total, the champion and the champion each take close to 45,000 dollars in economic prizes, sources from the organization of the tournament, which concluded this Thursday, informed EFE.
In general, the big events on the world circuit distribute prizes between 20,000 and 35,000 for their champions, significant amounts and with an upward trend.
“The hope is that next year the prize pool will increase to 1.5 million dollars in tournaments like the one in Chicago,” a member of the PSA World Tour of squash admits to EFE.