The impromptu event, which was thought up by Malaysia's six-times world champion, involved more than 200 players and fans converging at the Curve Shopping Mall in Selangor, Malaysia, where they danced to Nicki Minaj's "Starships" and Beyonce's "Run The World".

"Watching the London Olympics this year was really heartbreaking," said 29-year-old David, who has topped the world rankings since 2006.

"I watched it every single day and not being there just didn't seem right.

"I had the idea of creating more awareness for squash and, with my friends back in Penang.

"We decided that it would be great to do a flashmob and we basically decided to go ahead with it.

"All the top players, guys and girls, were excited to do this and come together to show that we deserve to be in the Olympics."

Squash's "Back The Bid" event has sparked significant media attention in Malaysia – and coincides with the CIMB Malaysian Open, which has attracted the world's leading women and men to the Malaysian capital.

The flashmob crew included Australians Rachael Grinham, a former world champion and world number one, world number six Kasey Brown and five-times former world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald.

Also involved were Egyptians Karim Darwish and Mohamed El Shorbagy, four and eight, respectively, in the men's world rankings, and women's world number two Raneem El Weleily and India's Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal.

Nicol David led the Back The Bid flashmob in Malaysia

England was represented by Laura Massaro and Jenny Duncalf, Alison Waters and Adrian Grant, ranked three, four, nine and 15, respectively, while Mexico's highest-ranked player of all time, Samantha Terán, also attended along with representatives from countries including hosts Malaysia, France, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand and Scotland.

"It went really well," said David afterwards.

"It was a good turnout and I've been getting really good feedback from everyone.

"I think all the players had a really good time."

World Squash Federation (WSF) chief executive Andrew Shelley was delighted to hear of the flashmob initiative.

"Squash is lucky to have such a proactive group of elite athletes who will do almost anything to convince the IOC (International Olympic Committee) decision-makers that the sport would be a really positive addition to the Games programme," he said.

"And for them it would mean everything to be part of it."

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