Busy time for squash in Ecuador

The weekend saw the start of the 7th Festival Olympico Ecuatorianno, a gathering of 3,000 athletes competing in 39 sports alongside a number of cultural events until 24 May in Ecuador's capital city of Quito, and squash will have a major part to play. This comes at an important time for the sport, as it bids for a place in the Olympic Games from 2016.

Squash is one of the eleven sports in the event to be designated as International, so this means that although the Festival is a domestic event there will be several overseas players competing in the squash singles competition.

While checking on the fine-tuning of the event and the preparations for the Men's World Junior Squash Team and Individual Championships to be held in Ecuador next year, Deputy Minister of Sport Mr Raoul Ricorde was also briefed about the hopes that squash has to be included in the Olympic Games programme for 2016.

Ecuador Squash Federation President Mr Alberto Adum explained that: “The whole of South American Squash is behind our bid for the Olympics, and we see this yearly festival as our step towards this. All the sports are on national TV now so squash is known to everybody here, whether they play or not.”

Explaining the importance of the Festival, Danilo Carrera D, Director of the Comité Limpico Ecuatoria, said: “This sports festival is the most important and large event in our country. The objective is to promote all the sports and to encourage the athletes to become elite players and participate in the Olympic cycle of events.” [ For bid information please: www.squash2016.info

Squash is a game played by two or four players, dating back to the 1830’s. Squash is overseen by the World Squash Federation (WSF) and has a strong professional tour scene, with the men’s tour managed by the PSA (Professional Squash Association) and the ladies by WISPA (Women’s International Squash Players Association).

Squash is bidding for a place in the Olympic Games 2016 against six other sports: baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens and softball. The IOC can choose up to two sports to include in 2016, but are under no obligation to take any.

The appeal of squash is not limited to professionals: with a worldwide participation of over 20 million people across 175 countries, squash is a relatively inexpensive game to ‘turn up and play’.

The case for squash is strong across all areas to be considered by the IOC, for example:. It is a game popular the world over | ·It is played by men and women and both games are of an equally high standard | . Inclusion is supported by PSA, WISPA ,the WSF and the sport as a whole |. An Olympic medal would be the highest possible achievement within the sport | . The top players (male and female) have all pledged to play at any Olympic Games | . Squash has a rigorous drug testing system in place, compatible with the IOC doping regulations as implemented by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency)

The game would be easy and inexpensive to integrate into the Olympic Games, requiring just two glass courts which can be erected almost anywhere – tournaments have been held in front of the pyramids in Egypt (Al Ahram Open), inside The Field Museum in Chicago, and on the harbour’s edge in Hong Kong

Squash is popular in countries that do not traditionally produce Olympians. As such the sport could ‘take’ the Olympic Games into new and developing territories

The IOC process involves a meeting of the Executive Board in June in Lausanne where all seven sports will make presentations, and the 80 question questionnaire submitted in February by each competing sport will be reviewed. The IOC Executive Board will submit its findings to the rest of the IOC voting members, who will make the final decision in Copenhagen in October 2009 as to which (if any) sports to add. The number of bidding sports may also be reduced from seven at an IOC meeting in Berlin in August.