The outcome of the IOC Session in Monaco today continues to raise the prospect of a place for Squash at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
It was after Squash lost out to Wrestling in the vote for a ‘new sport’ for the 2020 Games that the 2013 IOC meeting in Buenos Aires elected Thomas Bach as IOC President. The new President promised change and initiated his Olympic Agenda 2020 consultation initiative to look at many aspects of the Games – including the composition of the Olympic Games Programme and how it will evolve.
World Squash Federation President N Ramachandran, who was in attendance at the IOC Session, heard confirmation that a more flexible approach will be introduced – based primarily on athlete numbers rather than sports – and that change could come as early as 2020.
Ramachandran is cautiously optimistic about the outcome: “I have always said that my task has been to keep pushing at the Olympic Games Programme door for Squash. Now that I can see that a little light is coming through at the edges I am delighted of course.
“However, we cannot get ahead of ourselves,” added the WSF President. “We simply remain hopeful that the changes that President Bach and his Executive Board make will take us forward onto the next stage of our dream being realised at the earliest opportunity.”