Fresh hopes for squash's inclusion in 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Squash’s inclusion at the Olympics recieved a major boost

The chances of squash making it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics received a boost with the Organising committee in Japan shortlisting the sport as one of the eight disciplines to present its case afresh before a final recommendation is made to the International Olympic Committee in September this year.

The Monday’s announcement coming as it did after the disappointment earlier of missing out on a place on the programme for the 2020 Olympic Games at the IOC Congress in Buenos Aires in 2013, presents a fresh opportunity and the World Squash Federation has warmly welcomed it as a positive development.

"We are confident that squash will bring something special to the Programme of the Olympic Games," said the WSF President Mr N Ramachandran, on behalf of players in the 185 countries where the sport is played.

"Squash is a fine gladiatorial sport played all over the world and featuring great athleticism, competition and broadcast output. We are very grateful to the Tokyo 2020 Additional Event Programme Panel for including us in the shortlist from which nominations to the IOC will be made,” he said.

Mr Ramachandran said "there is a long and strong squash tradition in Japan, with the Japanese Squash Association closing in on its fiftieth anniversary. Tokyo hosted some of the biggest professional events in the world a little while ago and now has great juniors such as Satomi Watanabe and Ryunosuke Tsukue who are doing so well at world level. The Olympic Games in 2020 would be perfect timing for them!” he added.

Squash’s bid for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

The other seven sports making a bid are baseball/softball, bowling, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, surfing and wushu. The IOC will make a final decision on which disciplines will be added in August 2016, when it meets before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Under the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms approved in December, the IOC agreed to abolish the cap of 28 sports for the summer Games and move to an “events-based” system that would allow inclusion of new competitions subject to a ceiling of about 10,500 athletes and 310 medal events. Host cities are also allowed to propose for the inclusion of one or more additional events for the Games.

Roger Federer also backed the bid for sqaush’s inclusion in Olympics