Squash President Praises "Dream Event"

(ATR) N Ramachandran tells Around the Rings last week’s Hong Kong Open was "a dream event" for IOC inspectors to evaluate squash’s 2020 Olympics bid.

"It was being held in Hong Kong for the 26th year, and every year it gets better," says the recently reelected president of the World Squash Federation.

"The broadcast was superb, the video replays were very good, the weather was conducive, ambiance was excellent and the matches were great."

World No. 1 and reigning champion Nicol David of Malaysia won the women’s draw, while Ramy Ashour of Egypt upset top-ranked James Willstrop of England on the men’s side.

Both the semi-finals and finals were staged along the waterfront at Tsim Sha Tsui on one of squash’s new demountable all-glass courts, which Ramachandran says are inexpensive, "leave no white elephant facility problems" and are a key part of WSF’s pitch to the IOC.

"We were able to project to the IOC inspectors as to how best we could showcase a city in an iconic location," he tells ATR.

Glass floors with LED underlighting, which debuted in February at the U-21 World Cup in Ramachandran’s hometown of Chennai, India were notably absent from Hong Kong.

"It’s still in an experimental stage," he says of the construction, which can display game statistics and sponsor banners at the feet of players in a stunning visual display.

"We felt that we needed a few more things to be done before we introduced it at the senior level, and that’s why we thought we would go with the wooden floor."

He confirms the IOC already knows about the technology and will be reminded Dec. 19 in Lausanne during WSF’s presentation to the Program Commission, which he says will be "professional" and "straightforward" but may feature cameos from some top squash players.

Climbing, karate, roller sports, squash, wakeboard and a joint bid by baseball/softball are the other six contenders facing a vote of the IOC Executive Board in May 2013.

In the meantime, Ramachandran insists there’s not much to say about any exchange of information between WSF leadership and the IOC, which was represented in Hong Kong by Walter Sieber of the Program Commission and Hannah Burns of the Sports Department.

"They went around the entire event site. They visited all the media rooms. They visited the doping control center. They talked to the players. They talked to the referees. They talked to the organizers," he tells ATR.

"We just let them do what they wanted because as far as we are concerned, we’re there only to help them. They did what they had to do."

In fact, he says, he never even asked the inspectors what they thought because he felt that would be unfair.

"They will make their own recommendations," he says.

"All I can tell you is we did a pretty good job."

Reported by Matthew Grayson.

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