World's Top Players Pledge Support For Squash Olympic Bid
Official WSF Release
By Howard Harding

The world's leading players pledged their support for the World Squash Federation's bid for Squash to become an Olympic sport by signing a declaration that "An Olympic Gold Medal Would Be The Ultimate Prize In Squash".

World number ones Amr Shabana, of Egypt, and Nicol David, from Malaysia, led the players' call for the sport to join the Olympic Games programme in 2016 at a 'Countdown to Copenhagen" reception in Manchester today (Wednesday), hosted by the WSF and led by its President Jahangir Khan, one of the sport's greatest players of all time. 

The reception took place during the Hi-Tec World Squash Championships – Manchester 2008, the first championships in the UK to combine both the Men's World Open and Women's World Open.

Squash is one of seven sports which have been short-listed by the IOC for consideration for the 2016 Games - the decision for which will be made in Copenhagen in October 2009.

Jahangir Khan outlined the sport's Olympic credentials and the timetable of the bid process over the next twelve months.

"We have a year to ensure that we do what needs to be done to get Squash into the Olympics.  All parties have to work closely, with everybody pushing hard to try to do their best to make this happen," said the six-time world champion and record ten times British Open winner.

Khan pointed out that an IOC delegation, comprising Sir Craig Reedie and Pierre Ducrey, will attend the Manchester World Championships later in the week.

The WSF President expressed his gratitude to all the players who had taken time out from the World Championships to attend the reception.

"We are delighted that all the players have signed our pledge - showing that it would be a dream come true for all players for Squash to get into the Olympics.

Gerard de Courcy, a Vice President of the WSF, added:  "One of our strengths is that we are an easy sport to access - thus squash can make sport more accessible generally.  Squash would gain a higher profile through being part of the Olympics and therefore could lead to more people being attracted to participate in sport, which is one of the Olympic ideals.

"The World Masters Squash Championships, which will take place this month in New Zealand for players in age-groups from Over-35 to Over-70, have attracted a remarkable entry of 763 players from 39 countries - which is another indication of the broad appeal of our sport."

Susie Simcock, the Emeritus President of the WSF who represented the Federation at the Beijing Olympics, alongside Khan, also pointed out:  "We are a totally athlete-focussed sport - few other sports can claim the calibre of our athletes."

There was further endorsement of the WSF's Olympic campaign from the World Championships' organisers:  "The Hi-Tec World Squash Championships – Manchester 2008 welcomes members the International Olympic Committee to the National Squash Centre this week to view what we hope will be the biggest and best squash tournament ever staged," said Jim Quigley, Head of Major Sports Events and Partnerships, Manchester City Council.

"Squash has for a long time felt it deserves Olympic status and this week’s Championships will be the perfect platform in which to display the sport to the people who will ultimately make that decision. Squash 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."


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Squash Bids for a Place on the Olympic Programme

Official WSF Release
By Howard Harding

Below is a document provided during 'Countdown to Copenhagen' Olympic press reception in Manchester:

Since 1986 the World Squash Federation has been working with the International Olympic Committee towards the target of Squash becoming an Olympic Sport.

The benefits to Squash of being on the programme are enormous: We would attract increased media coverage; make the sport accessible to a new generation of players; generate new development revenue; and bring more nations into the Squash family as National Olympic Committees recognise the attributes of the sport and the opportunity for Olympic medals.

The Bid for 2012
Following a detailed review process by the IOC in 2005, two sports, Baseball and Softball were voted off the programme for 2012. This allowed IOC members to vote on the inclusion of two new sports to make the maximum of 28 sports. Five "non-Olympic" sports – Squash, Roller Sports, Golf, Karate and Rugby Sevens - had been studied by the Olympic Programme Commission as part of its two-year analysis. From these five "non-Olympic" sports, the IOC members selected Squash and then Karate as the two sports which could potentially be chosen to join the Olympic programme for London 2012. For such a selection to be endorsed, however, a two-thirds majority was needed, since any "non-Olympic" sport must become an Olympic sport and listed as such in the Olympic Charter under Rule 46. Ultimately, neither Squash nor Karate obtained this two thirds majority and will therefore not be included for London 2012.

Forward To 2016
The IOC has now confirmed the format for a new Review of the Programme, to take effect at the Olympic Games 2016. A shortlist announced in April 2008 lists Baseball, Golf, Karate, Roller Sports, Rugby, Softball and Squash as the candidate sports. Following a change to the Olympic Charter, the two thirds majority needed for Olympic Sport recognition has been reduced to a simple majority.

THE BID PROCESS AND TIME SCALE

October 2008
IOC Observers Sir Craig Reedie and Pierre Ducrey at the World Championships

November 2008 
All candidate sports present to the Olympic Programme Commission in Lausanne

December 2008 – March 2009 
Detailed questionnaire to be completed

April 2009 
Olympic Programme Commission report preparation

June 2009 
Presentation of the Olympic Programme Commission report to IOC Executive Board
Presentation by selected IFs to the IOC Executive Board;

October 2009 
Executive Board proposal submitted to IOC session in Copenhagen

THE RULES OF THE BID

· The Rules of Conduct must be respected by the WSF and any person or organisation acting on their behalf

· Promotional materials may be sent to IOC Members until September 2009

· NO visits to IOC Members by the WSF or anyone acting on their behalf or supporting them

· NO receptions for IOC Members

· NO payment of travel or accommodation costs

· NO gifts

· All invitations to be cleared through the IOC Sports Department

· NO acts or statements that comment negatively on other sports

WSF OBJECTIVES

· To achieve a positive report from the Manchester observation programme

· To present an irresistible and memorable case to the Olympic Programme Commission

· To achieve endorsement of our Bid at the Executive Board presentation

· To convince 111 IOC members that they should vote for squash at the IOC session in Copenhagen, October 2009

The Olympic Dream: An Olympic medal would be the most important prize in a Squash player’s career and the Olympic Games would be the most important event in the sport. Every top player in the world would guarantee to play in the Olympics.

Universality: Squash is played by an estimated 15 million people in over 155 countries - with more than a quarter of a million registered athletes and over 600 professional athletes.

Spread of Medals : 19 countries are represented in the top 32 of the Men’s and Women’s World Rankings. A 32 draw Olympic event would be of the highest standard of play.

Squash For All : Squash is first and foremost a ‘participant sport’; the vast majority of people associated with it actually play. Squash is a perfect way to combat inactivity, lack of fitness and obesity and has real health and recreational benefits for society.

Youth : One of the key Olympic objectives is to engage with youth. Juniors are an area of rapid growth in Squash, both at recreational level and elite levels. The 2008 World Men's Junior Championships in Switzerland boasted a record entry and World Junior Championships for girls and boys will now be held annually due to demand from WSF Member nations. A new Junior global ranking system is being instituted. The flourishing European Junior Circuit featured 21 tournaments in 17 different countries in the 2007/08 season, with a record number of entries.

Elite Squash : Squash has flourishing, world-wide professional tours for Men and Women with prize money of over $5 million in 2008. World Championships have been held annually for over 40 years for Men and Women at Individual, National Team, Junior, Masters and players with hearing disabilities levels.

Gender Balance : Women account for 30% of all recreational players and 37% of professional athletes. The WSF board has led the way internationally by having a 60/40 male/female breakdown since 1991.

Major Games : Squash is played in over 20 Multi-Sport Games including the World Games, All-Africa Games, Asian Games, Pan-American Games, Commonwealth Games (in which it has been named as a 'core sport'), World University Championships and World Masters Games and is bidding for inclusion in the Mediterranean Games 2013. In 1991 it was played in only two Multi-Sport Games.

Doping : Squash has a strong anti-doping culture and dope testing programme. The number of positive tests in the past decade has been negligible.

The Olympic Event : Squash in the Olympic Games would feature 32-draw Men’s & Women’s events. It would be played on all-glass, demountable courts which are inexpensive for the Host City and leave no ‘white elephant facility’ problems.

Television : Aided by the all-glass court, TV production technology has developed positively in the past few years - and Squash is now regularly featured on TV in more than 125 countries across all continents

Web Streaming: Squash was in the vanguard of web-streaming and in the past three years has attracted large audiences. The last two World Championships each reached audiences in over 75 countries while PSALIVE.tv features Men’s and Women’s Tour events and has over 30,000 paid subscribers.

Athleticism : The most important feature of Squash. Squash is supremely athletic - a dynamic, competitive, skilful and physically challenging sport with one-against-one matches decided on objective results. There is no place to hide on a Squash court.

SQUASH AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES: A PERFECT MATCH

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