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 Low-Cost
High-Impact’ Squash Prepares for Presentation of a Lifetime
The
Squash 2016 bid team is making final preparations for its presentation of
the low-cost high-impact sport to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
Executive Board in Lausanne, on Monday 15 June, in its endeavour to have Squash
included in the Olympic Games from 2016.
All seven
bidding sports will make presentations, and Squash believes that it has all the
right attributes to make it worthy of a spot. The bid team will have 30 minutes
to prove its worth to the Executive Board. The team of six will be led
by IOC Member, HRH Prince Tunku Imran of Malaysia, and will include N
Ramachandran, President of the World Squash Federation (WSF), and women’s
world No1 Nicol David, along with three other players from across the
globe.
As well as
debuting a brand new video that highlights just how good Squash looks on
television, the team will also talk about the impressive universality of squash,
and what a low-cost addition to the Olympic Games the sport would be. Just two
glass squash courts would be required to stage the competition, and the WSF has
pledged to donate these to the host city. The courts can be placed almost
anywhere and importantly their donation would be permanent, so Squash would
leave a lasting legacy in Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo.
The players
will explain how an Olympic medal would be the highest honour within the sport;
all the top squash athletes in the world have pledged to be there and to
compete. Squash has champions in territories that are not typically
successful at the Olympic Games, and is the only sport to have enjoyed World
Champions, men and women, from every continent.
N
Ramachandran, WSF President, said: "The team has put an enormous amount of
work into Monday’s presentation, which is a reflection of how important Olympic
inclusion is to the whole of squash. We are looking forward to the opportunity
to address the Executive Board and highlight the many ways in which squash
fulfils the criteria to become an Olympic sport."
As part of
the bidding process, Squash was invited to send a representative to the recent
4th International Athletes Forum, the meeting of the IOC Athletes’
Commission in Marrakech, Morocco. Alex Gough, CEO of the Professional
Squash Association, attended on the sport’s behalf and took part in valuable
discussions with a variety of Olympic sports and IOC representatives.
"It was
a really valuable experience, and I felt that we made some very good input
across the board as well as learning from sports which have enjoyed Olympic
status for years. In particular, squash players are very well represented by our
professional bodies, and a number of sports were very interested in how we do
this so successfully,” said Gough.
For bid information please
visit
www.squash2016.info
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