Next October in Copenhagen, the IOC will decide whether any new sports will be included in the 2016 Olympic Games.
Squash is on the shortlist, but has competition for inclusion in the form of rugby sevens, golf, softball, baseball, roller sports and karate.
What will be the key factor that convinces those that matter that squash has what it takes? Vote on the right of the page ... or email me if you've got other ideas ...
The Guardian reports that the race to be included as a new sport in the 2016 Games is moving apace behind the scenes of the current Olympics in China.
Two of squash's rivals for inclusion are currently making headway in Beijing, "pressing the flesh" of those that matter ...
Journalist Matt Scott reports that the rugby and golf authorities are making the most of their opportunities:
"Bernard Lapasset, the International Rugby Board's chairman, has been lobbying hard for the inclusion of his sport's sevens format in the Olympics. Fluent in Spanish and English, the Frenchman has used his language skills to meet about 50 of the 114 IOC members to press his case.
Rugby has been promoting itself since before London's anointment as the 2012 host city in 2005. Ty Votaw, the executive vice-president for international affairs at the PGA Tour, is heading golf's campaign for inclusion. He arrives on Saturday and will embark on a similar tour of flesh-pressing engagements."
As I've previously written, rugby sevens look to be mounting a particularly strong campaign, with a slick media operation ready to be rolled out.
The latest progress on squash's campaign can be seen at the WSF site here.
With the Olympic Games underway in Beijing, scores of BBC Sport staff have flocked to the "greatest show on earth" at licence fee payers' expense.
With resources clearly diverted to Olympic sports ever since London was awarded the 2012 Games, what does this mean for squash's coverage on the Beeb?
As a non-Olympic sport, squash appears to have already felt the pinch. The BBC's decision after London won the 2012 Games to divert most of their coverage to Olympic sports has meant that the squash section on their website is now updated only infrequently - keen readers of the squash page (sadly relegated to the "Other sports" section with Darts and Bowls) will have noted that the last proper article was published on 22nd May.
To give the BBC its due, this last article was a proper feature, with the journalist Pranav Soneji interviewing Lee Beachill at the Super Series finals. There are photos of the two playing a game together, and the article is very positive in tone.
I doubt this page will receive any attention in the next month or so, and it'll be worth keeping an eye on it to see if things pick up post-Beijing.
I'm aware that at least one governing body sends stories in on a regular basis, so some lobbying for further coverage by the BBC is being done.
As far as any TV coverage on the Beeb goes, the next time when anything is broadcast is anyone's guess. If I remember rightly the last coverage was at least a year or two ago, with around half and hour's highlights of the British Open shown on a Saturday.
It's also worth noting that the 606 spin-off squash page often follows up stories that are on the main BBC sports site, and Pranav Soneji's comments on this page show that he - at least - is well-disposed towards the sport.
BBC squash page
Squash at 606
The conveyor belt of Egyptian squash talent continues to roll, with Mohamed El Shorbagy succeeding Ramy Ashour as the Men's Junior World Champion.
The 18 year-old from Alexandria beat the much higher ranked Aamir Atlas Khan in the final in Zurich, where his opponent from Pakistan was looking to become the first player from his country to take the title since Jansher Khan in 1986 ...
It is worth noting that Egypt and Pakistan had 7 players between them in the last 16 of the competition, with only one player from England (traditionally strong in providing junior talent) - Adrian Waller - making it to the same round.
Waller eventually lost in the quarter finals to Nicolas Mueller, the third seed from Switzerland, who subsequently took Shorbagy to five games in the semis.
The 18 year-old Swiss player has had three significant U19 title wins this year, and already is his country's top-ranked squash player.
2008 Men's Word Junior Championships
Looking forward to the start of the Beijing Olympics this weekend made me remember an initiative I noted a while back that - in the run up to the 2012 Games in London - seeks to pair FTSE-100 companies with different sports as a way of "helping them improve the effectiveness of their business delivery and performance."
There wasn't much information available on the initiative at the time, but some subsequent digging around got me thinking about how squash might follow suit ...
The British Olympic Association (BOA) website now lists a number of the Olympic sports and the British FTSE-100 companies that they are paired with (the first 10 were announced in February 2007, with more partnerships announced as they were agreed):
Corus - triathlon
Skandia - biathlon
British Gas - hockey
Land Securities - volleyball
GlaxoSmithKline - boxing
British Airways - snowsportGB
SAB Miller - fencing
Wolseley - gymnastics
Home Retail Group - badminton
Group 4 Securicor - judo
Standard Life Investments - archery
Experian - ice skating
Marks & Spencer - modern pentathlon
Accenture - sailing
O2 - taekwondo
John Lewis - equestrian
Alliance & Leicester - swimming
Sainsbury's - table tennis
The website also has downloads of media briefings for each specific partnership.
The website goes on to explain:
"The scope and focus of the individual relationships will vary from sport to sport in order to address their differing needs and the expertise available. The agreements will be between the NGBs and the individual businesses, although the overall programme will be facilitated by a Programme Director within the BOA.
The intention is for the relationships to extend up to, and potentially beyond, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in order to give the partnerships the best opportunity of making a lasting difference in this challenging and exciting period.
This programme is co-ordinated by a Project Director, Bev Salt who is on secondment to the BOA from AstraZeneca."
Most of the media briefings appear a little short on detail still, though Alliance & Leicester's partnership with swimming notes that one of the projects that they will start of with is:
"... to develop British Swimming's customer relationship management skills. To achieve this, Conrad Taggart, Head of Customer Strategy and Information at Alliance & Leicester, is sharing his specialist knowledge in database marketing and analytics."
Presumably this consultancy is being offered for free in return for the positive marketing/promotional benefits of being associated with a healthy sporting activity (and sharing in the successes of any British swimming champions).
It is ironic that a sport that a huge number of City-based FTSE-100 companies employees probably enjoy playing on a regular basis - squash - is excluded from the above list as it is not (yet!) an Olympic sport.
The idea is an innovative one, and not being an Olympic sport does not mean that squash cannot copy the model by forming such a strategic alliance.
Some might say that squash should get its own house in order before reaching out to form such a partnership. But given that squash is patently lacking in a number of the areas the initiative seeks to address, a sharing of expertise could allow the sport to reach its goals more quickly and effectively.
The new head of the PSA has a remit to address a number of the sport's deficiencies, and it was good to see that someone has been appointed who has prior experience of forming strategic partnerships.
Coupling a sport with a large business organisation to help serve its medium-long term interests is a bold initiative, and it will be interesting to watch closely to see how much help is offered in practice to the sports listed above, beyond the fine words of the media briefings. My guess is that some companies will take the initiative more seriously than others.
There are also mutual risks to bare in mind when undertaking such partnerships - a sporting drug scandal can end up tainting a partner organisation by association, or a recession can see a company pull the plug if it needs to make savings.
Who might squash partner with? A bank? A telecoms group? Send in your suggestions ...
Squash and the City (feature)
List of FTSE-100 companies
Great to see Nick Matthew making a comeback from injury to compete in the upcoming Forexx Dutch Open 2008.
Click on the video to the left (another great effort from Pro-Active for the PSA) to see what he's had to undergo to overcome his injury and get back to full fitness ...
The recent poll on this site that asked readers whether they thought that squash needed a 'Steve Redgrave-type' figure showed that opinion was divided.
The poll was in response to an article in the Guardian that suggested that the sport needed a popular figurehead/'personality' to attract greater participation and more money into the game ...
50% of respondents said that having a Steve Redgrave-type figure as the 'face' of the sport would be a positive thing.
And while around a third of you were unsure about whether such a figurehead would actually bring anything worthwhile to the sport, it was clear that those who thought that the players could effectively represent themselves were in a minority.
I don't think the problem here is in how the players perform in front of the media (almost every squash player I have ever seen interviewed is far more eloquent, humble and respectful of fellow professionals that in other sports I could mention). The problem is how the players access - or are given access - to the media, and the frequency and depth of coverage that they receive.
It is worth noting that the original Guardian article also drew mixed responses, so it's worth pausing for a moment to consider what the suggestion actually means.
Oliver Irish writes in the Guardian article suggests that "without a Steve Redgrave-type figure to both inspire young people to take up the sport and to attract sponsorship, how can squash become anything more than a minority sport?". The implication here is two-fold: that a) an inspirational figure in squash would generate the renewed interest that the squash craves, and b) someone like Sir Steve would help deliver those results for the sport.
The underlying suggestion that squash is crying out for a 'figurehead' is difficult to argue with, given declining interest in the sport of the past 20 years. Though perhaps some of the assumptions in the article are a little naive. Squash in the UK and abroad has a wealth of young, dedicated, highly marketable professionals who could all act as inspirational figures given the right level of media exposure. Some of the comments attached to the article make this point (though given how harsh some of the attacks were on the journalist, I'm not sure if the Guardian will bother to run a squash article again!).
Secondly, is Steve Redgrave the right kind of figure? The qualities associated with the five-time Olympic rowing champion are beyond reproach: commitment, dedication, physical and mental strength, the ability to be an ambassador for rowing and sport in general. An all round role-model that we should all aspire to emulate.
But Irish also mentions other, younger sportsmen that have caught the imagination of young people in the UK, such as Lewis Hamilton and Andy Murray. The journalist's point is that squash needs to attract younger players and more money into the game via sponsorship. Hamilton and Murray have a long way to go to achieve Redgrave's successes, yet the principal factor that makes them more attractive to youngsters and sponsors alike is age. The nearest squash has to a Redgrave figure is perhaps Peter Nicol who, while continuing to play a important role as an ambassador for squash and is undoubtedly also a great role model for young people, is - like Redgrave - retired from professional competition.
A 'Redgrave-type' figure, then, suggests someone who has great experience, an unblemished record, who can teach the youngsters a thing or two. In a celebrity-obsessed age, I'm afraid this won't wash. Any 'figurehead' must be younger, at the top of their game, and project an image that young people want to identify themselves with. 'Image' is not just about having the right kind of values: Tiger Woods and Roger Federer espouse the right values, but their image is moulded also by their representation in the media and their sponsorship deals.
As some of the comments attached to the Guardian article suggest, there are any number of players (such as James Willstrop) who could provide this role. Yet it is the conditions for this to happen - principally greater media exposure - that allow for such a figurehead to emerge.
The Australian Open 2008 looks like it might be on the road to regaining the status of its vintage years, with David Palmer seeking to add the title he has never won to his glut of British and World Opens.
Palmer's entry should help to quench the Aussie public's thirst for seeing their leading players perform on home soil, where professional tournaments no longer attract the status they once did ...
I commented on the event - also held in the wine region of Clare - last year, lamenting the decline in the quality and number of events held Down Under.
Have things changed? Revisit the article - and have your say!
The newly-appointed Chief Executive of the PSA, Richard Graham, is the subject of a lengthy two-part interview on YouTube.
Click to the right to see the first part of the interview ...
Interviewed by James Poole from Squash360.com, Mr Graham explains his vision for the PSA tour.
Below: Part 2 of the interview
As it's Wimbledon fortnight, I've dug out an old article that argues why squash shouldn't align itself with tennis' traditions.
Disagree? Have your say ...
Read the article
Left: Photo copyright - AELTC
Federer does it, Nadal apparently does it, and Fabrice Santoro is apparently the master of it.
It appears that squash shots are becoming an essential part of a top tennis player's armoury - as an article in the Times last week revealed ...
"If you're dragged out wide and you've got no chance to get a racket on it properly, you can either throw up a lob and most likely watch someone bury it, or you can alter your grip and play a squash shot", Andrew Castle, the BBC presenter and former British No1, explains in the article.
Click on the video above to see Roger Federer employing a squash-type shot to stay in a rally.
The article also included comments from Peter Nicol on squash shots creeping into tennis:
"Yes, they are clearly adopting squash techniques, the use of the wrist shots, especially on grass ... Both squash and tennis have got quicker and quicker and you have to adapt and mix it up. You can't just use the old techniques any more. Federer once said that a lot of his different shots were from his days playing squash."
Watch a clip of Roger Federer using a squash shot to stay in a rally
There's just a handful of days left to take part in England Squash's online survey.
Have your say on the future of the game - and win a prize ...
The aim of the survey is "to improve the way (England Squash) deliver services for Squash and Racketball, support our members, and serve players, fans and competitors in the wider Squash and Racketball communities."
Those that enter have the chance to win more than 50 prizes for both individuals and clubs/facilities, including VIP Tickets, coaching sessions from some of the greats in the game, rackets, apparel and balls.
The survey will be closing the survey on June 30, 2008, so click on the link below now!
Take the survey
The results of a consultation about the future of Finsbury Leisure Centre (and the squash courts therein) has been published by Islington Council.
Though over 50% of respondents rated squash provision at the Centre as "very important" or "quite important", the future existence of the courts appears far from secure ...
No final decisions about the future of the squash courts have yet been made by the council, though it appears that the majority public view is that the leisure centre should be demolished and replaced with a more modern building and better facilities.
It appears that whatever is decided, the courts have an extra layer of legal protection due to the fact that the council does not own the building which houses the courts - this is leased from a housing association.
However ... :
"It is (therefore) proposed that Council approve the provision of a quantum of housing not exceeding a footprint of 435 square metres. This is significantly lower than both options presented in the consultation and is equivalent in size to the footprint occupied by the current squash courts."
It is not clear whether this housing will replace the courts, and there will be a further consultation on the scope of the development as a whole at the design stage, which:
" ... should try to accommodate as many of the facilities highlighted by the public as possible, in the order of priority given by the consultation responses."
To my knowledge there is no offically registered squash club based at Finsbury, though the courts are well used and there is an active, competitive public squash ladder based there. However, I have heard that the current administrator of this ladder wishes to relinquish responsibility and a replacement is yet to be found.
The original consultation can be viewed here:
http://www.islington.gov.uk/DownloadableDocuments/LeisureandCulture/Pdf/ironmonger_row_consultation.pdf
And here are the results of the consultation can be seen here:
http://www.islington.gov.uk/DownloadableDocuments/CouncilandDemocracy/Pdf/iron_monger_row_baths_consult_results.pdf
http://www.islington.gov.uk/DownloadableDocuments/CouncilandDemocracy/Pdf/irb_flc_consultation_report.pdf
Other courts closing or at risk
See my articles on this site about:
The Chase Squash Club, Leicester
Morley Leisure Centre
Harrow Squash Club
England Squash is holding an online survey about its future - and there's some great prizes for those who can spare 5-10 minutes to participate ...
The aim of the survey is "to improve the way (England Squash) deliver services for Squash and Racketball, support our members, and serve players, fans and competitors in the wider Squash and Racketball communities."
Those that enter have the chance to win more than 50 prizes for both individuals and clubs/facilities, including VIP Tickets, coaching sessions from some of the greats in the game, rackets, apparel and balls.
The survey will be closing the survey on June 30, 2008, so click on the link below now!
Take the survey
The PSA finally appointed a new Chief Executive yesterday.
And the outlook for men's squash looks immediately bright, with the panel eshewing the appointment of someone within the game and going for - as squashblogger previously suggested - an experienced sports marketeer ...
The new man is Richard Graham, former Chief Operating Officer of the Parallel Media Group plc, who has worked with a number of sports federations, including the Lawn Tennis Association, the Lipton International Players Championships in Miami and British Equestrian Promotions.
Since leaving PMG earlier this year, Graham has worked as an independent sponsorship agent to a variety of rights holders, including Birmingham City FC, Honda F1 Racing, SnowsportGB and the English Open Golf Championship.
It was good to see that the interview panel included people involved in the game but able to give an objective voice, such as Ziad Al-Turki, Vice Chairman of the ATCO Group and former World Champion and promoter Peter Nicol.
There's lots of discussion on squashblog.co.uk about media coverage of squash, and it was also heartening to read that Graham list this as one of his priorities:
"I believe that squash has a strong base from which the Tour, the PSA's commercial partnerships and the sport's media coverage can each be developed. It is in these three areas that I hope to focus my energy from the outset."
We wish Mr Graham every success in his new role.
Read the full press release about the appointment.
