Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Forero (born December 20, 1985 in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

), known as Miguel Rodríguez, is a professional male

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

player who represents

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 4 in June 2015.

Early life

Rodríguez was born in

. He was introduced to squash at the age of 2 by his father Ángel, a former professional squash player himself. He played primarily at the Club El Nogal in Bógota. Miguel attended the school Calasanz, where he also played football and table tennis. His most significant achievement as a junior is winning the US Junior Open and the Canadian Junior Open in Boys' Under 19 for 2 years in a row in 2003 and 2004. Rodríguez then started his professional squash career, and saw his first

PSA World Tour Sports competitions that are a recurring series of events or races, but do not constitute a sports league. Series Sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ...

title in November 2005 at the age of 19.

Career overview

Rodríguez won the

Colombian Open The Colombian Open, or Abierto de Colombia, is a golf tournament on the Colombian Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamérica that was first played in 1945. It has also on occasion been an event on the Tour de las Americas. In 2001, Camilo Villegas Ca ...

twice, in 2008 and 2010, and was runner-up in 2006 and 2012. Rodriguez won the Pan American Games in 2015 In September, he became the highest-ranked South American of all-time, exceeding then

Federico Usandizaga Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. People with the given name Federico Artists * Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ. * Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, ...

of Argentina. In 2013, he won the Bluenose Classic in Halifax in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in March and was bronze medalist of the

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

. He also won gold at the 2015 pan-am games in Toronto for single mens. On May 20, 2018, he won the 2018

British Open Squash Championships The British Open Squash Championships is the oldest tournament in the game of squash. It is widely considered to be one of the two most prestigious tournaments in the game, alongside the World Squash Championships (prior to the establishment of ...

in Hull,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, beating Egypt's

Mohamed El Shorbagy Mohamed ElShorbagy ( ar, محمد الشوربجي, born 12 January 1991 in Alexandria) is an Egyptian-English professional squash player. He represented Egypt from a young age until June 2022, and is currently representing England. He reached ...

in a 5 game thriller to become the first-ever man from Colombia, and more broadly South America, to win the coveted British Open title. Rodríguez is known to wear different colored shoes when on court.

Major
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
final appearances

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
: 1 final (1 title, 0 runner-up)

References

External links

* * * 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Bogotá Colombian male squash players Pan American Games medalists in squash Pan American Games gold medalists for Colombia Pan American Games bronze medalists for Colombia Squash players at the 2007 Pan American Games Squash players at the 2011 Pan American Games Squash players at the 2015 Pan American Games World Games bronze medalists Competitors at the 2013 World Games Competitors at the 2017 World Games Competitors at the 2022 World Games South American Games gold medalists for Colombia South American Games medalists in squash Competitors at the 2010 South American Games Squash players at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for Colombia 21st-century Colombian people {{Colombia-squash-bio-stub