With four Olympic Golds to his name, Matthew Pinsent reckons squash deserves a shot at the Olympics ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/matthewpinse ... ympic.html
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Squash makes case for Olympic inclusion
Matthew Pinsent | 09:03 UK time, Saturday, 9 October 2010
On the face of it squash, like so many of the racquet sports,
seems a cordial and genteel way of spending an hour but, in
reality, it is really a vicious sporting encounter.
There is scope to bully your opponent, shout at the officials with
seeming impunity and it would certainly challenge any of the sports
taking place in Delhi to be the sweatiest - despite being held in
the air-conditioned hall of the Siri Fort Complex.
At some points the gladiators stand at the back of the court and
exchange strokes of enormous speed and power but in an instant they
are darting forward, lunging like fencers, arms fully straight
front legs fully folded to reach some of the deft touch
shots.
After Peter Barker won the bronze medal on Friday afternoon, an
England sweep was assured in the men's singles with Nick Matthew
and James Willstrop in the gold-medal match.
As the game started it was a great mix of a good crowd and the
highest-level sport - a combination seen far too seldom in Delhi so
far.
You might think that, with the doubles competition starting on
Saturday, some sort of team orders would have been issued but there
was no quarter asked or given.
Nick Matthew was making no secret of his opinion about James
Willstrop's calls in the middle of games for the cleaners to come
in and provide a dry floor - and incidentally some breathing space
- and both players at times were furiously asking for lets.
Getting a let in squash is part tactic, part truth and a lot of
bravado. The encumbered party looks angrily back to the panel of
officials, miming the action he would like to have taken with his
racquet, while the blocker looks aghast and points to some area of
the court with palms up and a shrug - the full Mediterranean
"What's he on?"
The officials have a quick vote between the three of them and
deliver a polite "yes, let". The point is replayed sometimes more
than once and the sweat goes on.
In the end, Matthew swept Willstrop aside in straight games. But
the match was full of nuance and skill that the bland 11-6 11-7
11-7 cannot relate.
Squash of course is not an Olympic sport, which gives gold in the
Commonwealth Games an elevated status.
It's not that they haven't tried to gain a place in the Olympic
programme. They applied for inclusion for both the 2012 London
Olympics and, more recently, for Rio de Janiero in 2016, both times
unsuccessfully.
Seeing both golf and rugby sevens being voted into the biggest
multi-sport event on earth must have been a bitter pill.
Squash would be a good addition to the Olympics - it is relatively
easy to set up, especially in a modern urban environment, and is
fast and exciting to watch both on television and live.
Crucially, the Olympics would be the absolute pinnacle of what the
sport offers - unlike so many of the current sports in the
programme (such as tennis, football and arguably now rugby
sevens).
Golf's inclusion in the rota is - on that particular metric -
strange. Nothing in golf is going to break into the four majors or
the Ryder Cup as the must-win event of someone's career.
The reality of what makes the grade for inclusion and what keeps a
sport inside the ropes is never openly published. Some of them must
include number of competing countries, tradition of being in the
Games, spectator appeal, cost of staging, spread of medals in terms
of countries and ticket sales.
The fact that squash can compete with many of the sports already
in the Olympics on many of these makes me think that they must be
head of the list should the 28 sports ever be increased even by
one.
The earliest they could ever be included is now 2020 - too late
for this generation of athletes. For now, let's hail some of the
best squash players in the world and wish them well.
