Ukraine No.1 Anastasiia Kostiukova shares her thoughts on the WSF Women’s World Team Championship

December 10 2022

This year's World Squash Federation (WSF) Women’s World Team Championship start today in Egypt, & Ukraine, led by #teamunsquashable player Anastasiia Kostiukova, will be making their first appearance in the championship which will be staged at the Madinaty Sports Club in Cairo, Egypt from the 10th to 16th December.

29-year-old World No.125 & Ukraine No.1 Anastasiia Kostiukova earlier this year became the first ever Ukrainian squash player to win a match at the World Games when she beat Hungary’s Chinyere Chukwu in straight games.

At the WSF Women’s World Team Squash Championship in Cairo, Anastasiia will play alongside compatriots & Milena Velychko, Anastasiia Krykun & Daria Vlasenko & the Ukraine No.1 shares her thoughts on the upcoming WSF Women’s World Team Championship.

Anastasiia, please start by telling us about how you first got started in squash?
I got into squash when I was a student, living in Odessa, Ukraine. After I tried it, I wanted to improve myself as much as I can, I love this game!

I’ve been playing squash now for 10 years & with a professional training schedule for five years.

Within this short period of time, I worked hard on myself to go from zero to the level I have now & I’m happy to still be motivated & improving.

How does it feel to have gone from ‘zero’ to playing for your country?
I’m feeling excited to go for this amazing experience . For me, it’s a great honour to take part in the event & I will do my best to represent my country. I’m very excited for it!

Are there any players or teams that you are particularly excited to play against?
I have no favourites but I like Hania El Hammamy. I would be really excited to play against Egypt or England. To step on court with those players would be great honour for me!

Do you have any goal or targets for the championship?
Our goal as a team is to make the best effort we can, to fight for every point, to show our best possible & impossible game at this event!

Training is going well. The girls are training hard & have played some tournaments abroad. I’ve been playing PSA tournaments all over the world, in Europe, Africa & the USA.

You’re travelling as the only senior player in the team, how do you view your role?
Yes, I have more experience than the other players in the team. I see myself like a leader of our team at this event. My teammates are juniors but they are progressing & improving. It will be nice for them to become more experienced, too, during this event.

Ukraine always had a strong team spirit but in these hard times our spirit has only become stronger . We live in different countries now so we cannot train together, we usually meet playing tournaments or having some national training & events. But we are looking forward to playing together!

The Women’s World Team Squash Championship is a biennial international tournament which sees four-player squads from each country battle it out in best-of-three-match ties.