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08/07/2005
Olympic Hopes Crash
Squash's chances fall at final hurdle
In a day of fluctuating emotions for squash the long pursuit of the sport's holy grail
– squash participation in the Olympic Games– was within grasp but then slipped through the sport's outreaching fingers to leave a dull sense of reality.
The long campaign for squash's inclusion in The Games reached its climax at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. Hopes were raised when the session voted to withdraw both Baseball and Softball from Games participation. That meant that 26 of the 28 current Olympic sports would be on the programme of the Games of the XXX Olympiad in 2012 to be held in London. The Session decided that baseball and softball will remain on the list of Olympic sports as noted in the Olympic Charter, rule 46, but would not be on the programme for 2012. The two sports are, however, eligible for inclusion in the programme of the 2016 Games.
This decision seemingly created an opening for the inclusion of two of the short listed 'new' sports.
Later in the day the IOC Executive Board convened and recommend that Squash and Karate be included from the five candidate sports (Roller Sports, World Squash, Golf, Karate or Rugby) and that these should be put forward to the Session, who would then vote on whether the sport(s) could be added to the list of Olympic sports and then potentially be included on the programme of the 2012 Games.
This was done an unfortunately Squash did not receive the two thirds endorsement of the Session necessary for the admission of a 'new' sport.
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