In a bid to lobby squash as an Olympic Sport, the squash community celebrated World Squash Day http://www.worldsquashday.com/ The money raised from events related to World Squash Day will be used to fund squash's Olympic 2016 bid. 1) Do you see squash as an Olympic sport 2) World Squash Day... what a great idea. Pity those geniuses at BWF can't come up with contemporary ideas like this
if squash is contested in the OG, then we shall know who is the hot favourite to grab the gold medal in the women's category
2016 might a bit too late for a promising female player from Malaysia. she will be 33 yrs old by then.
No reason why not, especially if you get chess as an event. You might not like to hear this but whether a sport is made an event of an Olympics will depend on the host countries' lobbying - if they're strong in a certain sport they'll try to lobby for it to be included as a medal contributor. Politics is everywhere even in the IOC.
politics is extremely bad in the IOC. as for squash itself, as a competitive sport, it is inherently quite worthy of Olympics status. however, in terms of popularity, it may not be the most suitable. Olympics always want to have sports that are being widely played and represented by many countries. is squash one of them?
Haha, I'm surprised we (Canada) didn't lobby for dog-sledding or ice sculpting or downhill ice skating for our upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics. Personally I'd like to see squash included at the expense of one of the many martial arts sports or synchronized swimming
I'm afraid squash remains a sport played mainly by Commonwealth countries, or ones which Britain has had an influence on. Right now, Egypt are on top of the men's game while Malaysia and Australia rule the women's
Too bad. Not enough support. The ladies are quite sexy as well. Maybe bangging against the wall is something IOC shuns.
Well.... msians sure answer yes cos if squash has been included earlier, Msia would have won that 1st OG gold long ago. As for it not being popular, make it an OG sport and the popularity & budget for the sport will increase. China for sure will start to groom players. In some countries squash dont get much funding cos it's not OG sport.
My guess is that it is more universal than synchronized trampolining. A good Olympic litmus test for the universality of a given sport would be to finish the following sentence: In how many countries do the poor kids entertain themselves at the local sandlot from dawn to dusk imagining that they are [bouncing] with their favourite [trampoline] hero ?
George, we are talking from a global point of view, not from a "if Malaysia can win a medal" point of view. Besides, there are countless martial arts sports in the Olympics already.
err, i was referring to the sport Wushu though anyway, sorry too koz im out of the topic already..this is suppose to be a squash thread
its sure a worthy sport. I remembered I accidentally whacked someone with the ball on the butt. He happened to be gungho to stand infront of me showing off his butt. haha... it was at Wilayah Kompleks. It got bruised alright.
Olympic Skijoring! Olympic Crazy Carpeting! I don't really like Squash, but I'd happily have it replace any of these "sports": Any Equestrian events, any Wrestling/Boxing/Martial Arts events, Fencing, Archery, Shooting, Trampoline, Water Polo, and probably some others too.
I think squash is fine for the OG. I think every sports deserve a trial or exhibition at the OG and see how it goes. Sketchy, I like to add to your list of sports that deserve to be cut or scale back alot. List of (Boring) Events of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008 Rowing • coxless pair (2-) Men • double sculls (2x) Men • eight with coxswain (8+) Men • four without coxswain (4-) Men • lightweight coxless four (4-) Men • lightweight double sculls (2x) Men • quadruple sculls without coxsw Men • single sculls (1x) Men • double sculls (2x) Women • eight with coxswain (8+) Women • lightweight double sculls (2x) Women • pair without coxswain (2-) Women • quadruple sculls without coxsw Women • single sculls (1x) Women Athlete Quota:350 places for men Canoe/Kayak Flatwater - C-1 1000m (canoe single) Men - C-1 500m (canoe single) Men - C-2 1000m (canoe double) Men - C-2 500m (canoe double) Men - K-1 1000m (kayak single) Men - K-1 500m (kayak single) Men - K-2 1000m (kayak double) Men - K-2 500m (kayak double) Men - K-4 1000m (kayak four) Men - K-1 500m (kayak single) Women - K-2 500m (kayak double) Women - K-4 500m (kayak four) Women Slalom - C-1 (canoe single) Men - C-2 (canoe double) Men - K-1 (kayak single) Men - K-1 (kayak single) Women Swimmming - 100m backstroke Men - 100m breaststroke Men - 100m butterfly Men - 100m freestyle Men - 1500m freestyle Men - 200m backstroke Men - 200m breaststroke Men - 200m butterfly Men - 200m freestyle Men - 200m individual medley Men - 400m freestyle Men - 400m individual medley Men - 4x100m freestyle relay Men - 4x100m medley relay Men - 4x200m freestyle relay Men - 50m freestyle Men - marathon 10km Men - 100m backstroke Women - 100m breaststroke Women - 100m butterfly Women - 100m freestyle Women - 200m backstroke Women - 200m breaststroke Women - 200m butterfly Women - 200m freestyle Women - 200m individual medley Women - 400m freestyle Women - 400m individual medley Women - 4x100m freestyle relay Women - 4x100m medley relay Women - 4x200m freestyle relay Women - 50m freestyle Women - 800m freestyle Women - marathon 10km Women
Personally I think the horse events should be dropped.. I think the olympics should be about human abilities competing. I cant see the point of letting animals compete for us.. (btw with tha same argument, I do not think Motorsports etc, would be olympic worthy either).. /Twobeer
I think all the swimming and gymnastics events need to be merged into just a couple of events. It's stupid when you look at the all-time list of Olympic medal winners, and 20 of the top 28 athletes are swimmers or gymnasts. I don't have a problem with Rowing and maybe even Kayaking, but I would get rid of all the Sailing and Canoeing events. Oh yeah, and there's one other that I can't believe I forgot - WALKING! How the hell is that an Olympic sport?! I mean, they have a 12 mile walking event - that's shorter than a marathon, and they run it slower than a marathon runner. What is the point? Plus you can see on camera that they're cheating half the time, and noone does anything about it. And can you imagine a more boring spectator sport?
All racquet sports are inherently exciting (to me, anyway), so I would love to see squash and/or racquetball appear at the Olympics. If need be, synchronized swimming and ALL equestrian events can sod off to make room.
