The squash community worldwide is still reeling by the news of the sport's exclusion from the Olympics in Tokyo 2020. The result of the IOC's decision was devastating for fans and players, not least in Egypt which has some of the world's best players. In comparison, wrestling managed to restore its place back in the Olympic Games of 2020 and 2024 after receiving the IOC's majority of votes. Wrestling took 49 votes out of 95, followed by baseball/softball with 24 votes and squash with only 22 votes. President of the Egyptian Olympic Committee (EOC) Khaled Zeineddin told Al-Ahram Weekly, “Wrestling is one of the oldest sports in the history of the Olympic movement. All the national Olympic committees in 205 countries were asked by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which would they choose from the three sports: wrestling, squash or softball/baseball. As EOC president, when they took my opinion six months ago, I said the priority was wrestling, then squash. “Egypt has won dozens of Olympic medals in wrestling in 103 years of the Games. We have 42 medals in seven Greco roman weight categories and seven freestyle categories. This doesn't mean that EOC is against squash but as EOC president I am looking at what benefits my country.” Egyptian champion world No 5 Karim Darwish said, “The IOC executive board promised to introduce a new sport in the Olympics by adding a new sport or removing one and replacing it with another. I think there are many sports which deserve to be on the list. Squash has 87 countries playing it.” Top WSA (Women Squash Association) squash pro Engy Kheirallah said, “I am not with the idea of dropping wrestling from the Olympics because it is one of the oldest sports in the Olympic Games and one of the most popular sports worldwide. I think it is very difficult for any other sport, whether squash or softball/baseball, to compete against it. Squash isn't as well known as wrestling. “I think the IOC executive board's vote to reinstate wrestling was because they don't want to add any new sport to the Olympic programme but want to improve some things in wrestling. I am sure that if they inspect all sports they will find plenty of faults in so many of them,” Kheirallah added. Egypt's woman champion and world No 13 Omneya Abdel-Qawi said, “I truly feel sad that squash missed out on the Olympics. We as squash players know quite well that squash has all the characteristics of an Olympic sport. I think it is a big loss for them. But we will never stop. We will continue to compete in our championships. And we hope we will be able to enter the Olympics in 2028.” The first bid for squash to be an Olympic sport was in 2005 in Singapore. The move to join the Olympic Games in London 2012 was spearheaded by squash legend Jahangir Khan and the president of the World Squash Federation from 2002-2008. In 2005 the IOC session in Singapore recognised rugby sevens, golf, roller sports, squash and karate as being instituted for the selection for London 2012. It was given the opportunity to vote on the shape of the programme. The first series of votes resulted in baseball and softball being eliminated from the 2012 programme. This created space for two new sports. But neither squash nor karate succeeded in receiving the two-thirds majority of the IOC members votes to be recognised as an Olympic sport to join the London Games of 2012. In 2009, the five sports from the 2005 list were joined by softball/baseball for selection for Rio de Janiero 2016. Now it was apparent that substantial time, effort and finance had to be put behind the bids. The president of WSF at that time Narayana Ramachandran started a new campaign introducing the unique quality of squash but it lost again. Rugby sevens and golf were selected for the Olympic programme for Rio 2016. This year was the third consecutive bid for squash after a 10-year campaign. For the first time it succeeded to be considered by the IOC for inclusion in the Olympic Games, in Tokyo 2020. The campaign this time was led by Ramachandran, Egyptian men's world champion Rami Ashour, former Australian women's world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald, Peru's Pan American junior champion Diego Elias, American U-19 urban squash champion Andreina Benedith and WSF Chief Executive Andrew Shelley. In recent years, squash changed the way it was broadcast and presented, its venues -- state of the art all-glass courts and in Egypt's case in front of the Pyramids -- referee video review, scoring system, lighting and music to entertain spectators. It also tried increasing the popularity of the sport in South America, Central Europe, China, the United States and India. “I think the campaign this year was the best ever made for the sport. A lot of money and effort was spent. I think squash would have had a better chance of entering the Olympics if they dropped unnecessary sports,” said Kheirallah. Darwish added, “The campaign is stronger than before. They had been working on it for five years. It has nothing do with whether the sport deserves to be added or not. It is not the sole decision of the sport. There are many aspects involved. Politics played a major role in the issue.” About the reactions of squash players worldwide, Abdel-Qawi said, “All of us were upset. We never expected that squash would take the lowest number of votes after the two other sports. We thought that it had a good chance of entering the Olympics or at least finishing second in the voting.” Darwish added, “In Egypt, the spectator backlash was not very strong because they love squash whether it's in the Olympics or not. Besides, we achieved good results in international championships. The junior players were not affected by the decision. It's the older professional players who were furious because their dream was to reach the Olympics.” About the future, Darwish said, “The new IOC president Thomas Bach has pledged to add new sports. We still hope to join the Olympics. If squash was unable to enter the Olympics we will continue to develop our sport to make it more exciting and encourage more countries to play it.” Forbes magazine has described squash as the healthiest sport with a 100 per cent doping-free record. What distinguished squash, Abdel-Qawi said, “is that it is a comprehensive sport. It needs a high level of physical fitness, mental strength and self-independence.”
