Squash club Basingstoke.
Squash has been featured regularly at the multi-sport events of the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games since 1998. Squash is also a regular sport at the Pan American Games since 1995. Squash players and associations have lobbied for many years for the sport to be accepted into the Olympic Games, with no success as of 2021. Squash narrowly missed being instated for the 2012 London Games and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games (missed out again as the IOC assembly decided to add golf and rugby sevens to the Olympic programme).[27] Squash also was not selected as an event in the 2020 Olympic Games.[28] At the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, the IOC voted for Wrestling instead of Squash or Baseball/Softball. The usual reason cited for the failure of the sport to be adopted for Olympic competition is that it is difficult for spectators to follow the action, especially via television. Previous world number one Peter Nicol stated that he believed squash had a "very realistic chance" of being added to the list of Olympic sports for the 2016 Olympic Games,[29] but it ultimately lost out to golf and rugby sevens.
Squash was accepted as a demonstration sport for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.[30] The World Squash Federation hopes that this inclusion will create a strong bid for potential inclusion at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[31]
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