Squash ei pääsenud Tokio 2020 viimasesse vooru!!

Dear Colleague,

The road to Tokyo has been a long and ultimately unsuccessful one. We achieved a place on the initial list of eight contending sports for the Olympic Games 2020 over four years ago. Then got ourselves placed on the shortlist of three to replace the sport that would be taken out of the Programme to make room for a new sport (and were the only ‘new’ sport on it). We produced materials, commissioned videos, responded to questionnaires, underwent inspection, pressed our case by personal persuasion, and formally presented it to IOC Commissions and Congress. The costs were enormous, and not only drained our resources but was only made possible by donations too.  

Ultimately, as we know, the IOC chose the sport they had taken out to make room for the new one.

Then we had a lifeline thrown to us when the IOC offered the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee the chance to nominate to them suggested sports as additions to their Programme.

This was a different type of campaign but again costly.

Now we know that despite being one of the two IOC favoured sports alongside baseball softball, who lost in the final three in Buenos Aires, Tokyo used a very narrow view for their hosting and we failed to receive their endorsement.

I expressed myself ‘devastated’ at the outcome in the media statement we circulated earlier today as you may have seen (copied below), but I also need to tell you all that despite every effort I made to press our case at every opportunity and on every continent, we fell short. We didn’t deserve to.

While I took the lead as WSF President, it was a team effort across the sport that enabled us to go as far as we did. From the passion shown by every player at every level, through the support and enthusiasm of every stakeholder from local to national and international, to all the individuals who contributed funds to help the push, to everybody who used their sporting contacts to promote our campaign, to the work in really presenting events so excitingly, and finally to my Board who gave their unstinting support and backing at every turn.

It is with regret that I state that we did not achieve the Tokyo nomination that would have taken us one step closer again.

For now, on behalf of WSF may I thank again each and every one of you across the sport, for the support that you gave in our effort to get our athletes to Tokyo in 2020, although I am certain that our sport will eventually make it to the Olympic Games Programme in future.

N Ramachandran

WSF President

Yours in Sport