Squash Pushing Hard for Tokyo 2020

(ATR) Squash chief N. Ramachandran tells Around the Rings he is "optimistic" his sport can get on the program of the 2020 Games.

Speaking ahead of the IOC vote on Agenda 2020 reforms in Monaco next week, the World Squash Federation president said proposed changes would open the door to new sports joining the Games.

With Tokyo 2020 expected to recommend baseball/softball for inclusion in their roster of sports, Ramachandran believes approval of a proposal to move from a sport-based to an event-based program has raised his sport’s hopes.

He said the door to the Olympics was "slightly wider" than before and the World Squash Federation was ready to exploit the opportunity.

Ramachandran, who has made it his personal mission to get squash onto the Olympic program, said rejection of the sport last time around would not deter it trying again and again. Squash failed in bids for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and missed out again last year when wrestling was retained as an Olympic sport.

"I am optimistic," he said, "it is our sport’s destiny."

He said the WSF was working with the "very active" Japanese federation in its bid to join the Olympics. The WSF’s previous Olympic proposal was for a men’s and women’s competition featuring 64 athletes in total.

Squash’s Olympic ambitions received a boost last week when Canadian IOC member Dick Pound threw his weight behind the sport’s bid and vowed to help the federation achieve its goal.

In his address at the opening ceremony of the Women`s World Team Championship in Canada, Pound said the high level of the women’s game could make all the difference.

"As I look around the room at the many delegates who will participate in these championships, I cannot help thinking, as a member of the International Olympic Committee, that squash should be in the Olympic Games," he said, according to a Reuters report.

"I will do my best to make that dream a reality."

Next week in Monaco, the full IOC membership will vote on 40 recommendations in president Thomas Bach’s reforms bill, which is partly designed to make the Olympics more attractive.

"The IOC will be meeting in Monaco next week, and I am confident that we will abolish the rule against an artificial limit of 28 sports -- and I cannot think of a better example of fitness, skill, strategy and fair play than squash," said Pound.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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