Squash has never been an Olympic sport, and missed out on placement at Rio 2016 to golf and rugby sevens.

World Squash Federation (WSF) President N Ramachandran said here t Sport Accord that squash "is totally different from the way it was two or three years ago.

"We have completely changed the game around from the last time we made a bid.

"We have really turned the sport around.

"It is not easy, you have to convince national federations and players to accept the change...it is a hard process but I think we have continued to progress."

Innovations include new all glass courts, high definition television coverage and changes to the scoring system to make the game easier to understand.

Ramachandran insisted it was also inexpensively and "easy to integrate" into the Games requiring a five day competition schedule and just two courts to accommodate 64 competitors.

"If you look at all the multi sport Games squash is on every one apart from the Olympics," he added.

The world's top squash player, Britain's Nick Matthew (pictured), was also here to lobby for the sport's inclusion at the Olympics.

"There is a big buzz...squash at the Olympics would be the pinnacle for us," he said.


"We owe it to the next generation.

"It is the healthiest sport in the world."

Also here was Maria Toor Pakay, Pakistan's top female player, who grew up under the hardline Taliban regime in south Waziristan and eventually left her country after receiving death threats.

Pakay said that she had always wanted "to become a world champion" and that her dream was "to play at an Olympics".

"Squash is very big in Pakistan," she said, adding "squash gave so much to me."

Played in 185 countries, squash is currently a part of the World Games, and will remain so until at least Wroclaw 2017.

The sport is in competition with softball, which was removed from the Olympic programme after Beijing 2008.

Also bidding to be included in 2020 are baseball, climbing, karate, roller skating, wakeboard and wushu.

The final decision will be made after next year's World Games in Cali, which will be a key platform for squash as it battles for inclusion.

The IOC will pay a visit to the Hong Kong Open in November as part of their assessment of the squash bid.

Next May, recommendations will be made on which sport should be included in the Olympic programme, before the session in Buenos Aires, where the IOC will also announce the host city for the 2020 Games.

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