Squash Chief Pitches Tokyo 2020 Leaders

(ATR) World Squad Federation president N. Ramachandran has pressed his case for the sport to be included in the 2020 Olympics in talks with Tokyo Games president Yoshiro Mori.

The squash leader met Mori and Japanese IOC member Tsunekazu Takeda, who heads the country’s Olympic committee, on Tuesday in the Japanese capital. He also discussed squash’s Olympic bid with officials from the Tokyo governor’s office and mayor’s office.

"It was an important meeting. We wanted to emphasize that we are serious and we will meet the people necessary to ensure that we have a positive impact on the Games," Ramachandran told Around the Rings on Thursday.

Ramachandran’s message to Tokyo 2020 focused on how easy and cheap it would be to integrate squash into the Games with a men’s and women’s event, totaling 64 athletes. The WSF leader told Mori and his colleagues that squash’s top players were committed to the Olympics, saying they viewed it as the pinnacle of their sport, while it was also TV-friendly and courts could be set up in iconic city locations. He also highlighted the sport’s universality – it is played in 185 countries.

The squash delegation’s meeting with Tokyo 2020 came a day before the World Baseball and Softball Federation held talks with the Olympic organizers. Earlier this month, the World Karate Federation pitched Games officials.

Wakeboard and wushu are among other federations lobbying for a place on the Tokyo 2020 program.

Tokyo 2020 is allowed to make a proposal for "one or more additional events" as a one-off for this Games following approval of the IOC’s 40 Agenda 2020 reforms last month in Monaco.

Last week, Tokyo 2020 announced the formation of an "additional event program panel" to determine which new sport or sports will be added to the Games.

This seven-member panel will study the feasibility of specific sports that are requesting inclusion in the 2020 Olympics.

Tokyo 2020 will discuss how this panel will conduct its activities with a delegation from the IOC next month.

Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi and sports director Kit McConnell are part of the IOC project review team scheduled to visit Tokyo Feb. 4 and 5.

Ramachandran told ATR that Tokyo 2020 was now armed with all the facts it needed about his sport’s Olympic bid and was hopeful that squash will be viewed favorably by the additional event panel and IOC officials.

"We requested their support," he said. "We keep our fingers crossed."

Reported by Mark Bisson

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