India's top squash players Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal are ecstatic at their sport being shortlisted for the 2020 Summer Games but see a nervous wait ahead for the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) final vote in September on the lone available Olympic spot
IOC’s executive board recommended baseball/softball, squash and wrestling for possible inclusion in the Olympic programme for the 2020 Games. Squash is bidding for Olympics after two failed attempts.
Dipika Pallikal
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“I am very happy at the moment. Though we know that we have three crucial months ahead of us.
“It is going to be nerve-wracking. I hope we get the Olympic nod in September,” Pallikal told IANS from London.
Asked about the competition from the other two sports, the World No 15 said: “Our federation (WSF) has done everything they could. It is now only left to the IOC to see how fantastic a sport squash is and give us a chance.”
Ghosal, too, was excited at the news and hoped that squash will cross the final hurdle.
Saurav Ghosal
“It is great news, I am keeping my fingers crossed now. The other two sports are also trying their best but I hope squash comes out at the top. It is a dream for every player to compete in the Olympics and I am no different,” Ghosal told IANS from Kolkata.
“We don’t know what is going to happen at the final vote but our sport surely deserves a place in the Olympics,” the World No 19 added. —u00a0
Great day for squash: David
Squash great Nicol David, who was at the IOC meeting at Saint-Petersburg as part of the squash presentation team, was ecstatic at the result.
“This is a great day for squash as it takes us one step closer to realising our long held ambition to join the Olympic Games,” said the seven-time women’s world champion.
“I said to the Executive Board that the one big regret in my career is that I have never had the chance to compete in the Olympic Games, but I would happily trade all my seven world titles for the chance of Olympic Gold.
“Hopefully that showed what competing in the Games means to me,” added David.
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