POSTED: October 15th 2008
NewsUpdate
Players back Olympic squash
LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications
MANCHESTER: Squash gained another pledge of support from top players for its Olympic Programme bid with a declaration that "an Olympic gold medal would be the ultimate prize in squash."
A Countdown to Copenhagen reception was hosted at the Hi-Tec World Championships in Manchester by the World Squash Federation and its president Jahangir Khan - who heard elite-level athletes such as Amr Shaban of Egypt and Nicol David from Malaysia voice their backing and call on support from fellow competitors.
"We have a year to ensure we do what needs to be done to get squash into the Olympics," said Khan. "All parties have to work closely, with everybody pushing hard to try to do their best to make this happen."
Khan is a six-time world champion and record 10-time British Open winner.
He added: "We are delighted that all the players have signed our pledge that it would be ‘a dream come true’ for all players for squash to get into the Olympics.”
Seven sports are vying for a place on the 2016 Olympic Programme at the next October's 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark. The others are baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby and softball.
"One of our strengths is that we are an easy sport to access,” said Gerard de Courcy, a WSF vice-president, “thus squash can make sport more accessible generally. Squash would gain a higher profile through being part of the Olympics and could therefore attract more people to participate in sport, which is one of the Olympic ideals.
"The World Masters Championship this month in New Zealand for players in age-groups from over-35 to over-70, has attracted a remarkable entry of 763 players from 39 countries - another indication of the broad appeal of our sport."
"We are a totally athlete-focused sport. Few other sports can match the calibre of our athletes," said Susie Simcock, emeritus president of WSF, who had been in Beijing, networking with Khan.
Squash also received an endorsement from the World Championship’s organizers from Jim Quigley, the head of major sports events and partnerships for Manchester City Council.
He said: "Squash has long felt it deserves Olympic status and these championships will be a perfect platform to display the sport to the people who will make that decision.
"It is a truly international sport with countries from every continent represented here in Manchester and it would mean everything for these players to have the chance to win an Olympic medal for their country."
The vote for the 2016 Olympic Programme will take place early next October after the 2016 Summer Games host city vote.
Keywords · Squash · WSF · Jahangir Khan · Olympics · 2016 Games
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