Exclusive: Sport Exiting Olympics May Prove Major Factor in 2020 Inclusion says PSA Chief

By Ismail Uddin

Professional Squash Association (PSA) chief executive, Alex Gough has suggested  the sport being axed may be one of the crucial factors in determining which sport will be included in the 2020 Olympic programme. 

The IOC executive board will meet in Lausanne, Switzerland on Tuesday and decide which of the current 26 sports on the Olympic program will be dropped for the 2020 Games.

The PSA chief believes this decision may have a significant bearing on IOC’s 2020 inclusion decision. 

Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, Gough said: “There’s a lot of unknown factors that we still don’t know about and one of those being the sport that comes out. 

“Whilst we’re doing pretty well amongst the other sports, that one factor really swings it one way or the other.” 

Squash made a bid for the 2016 Olympics but were rebuffed by the IOC with one of the factors being the sport was hard to follow on TV but Gough believes they have fulfilled all of IOC’s objectives. 

He said: “When we went through this process, one of the main things we were lacking was consistency in the TV coverage. There was no archive or clear plan, so I think in the last three years we’ve filmed 900 matches for online and for the TV side of things we’ve filmed about 75 matches. When we went into this before we didn’t have any of that. Within that process and from doing so many, it’s got so much better.

“We had some really cool coverage from the World Series Finals and from all of the other tournaments that they could tap into and it was what the sport was missing.”

When considering if they would be included in the 2020 programme, Gough said: “It feels like we have listened to the IOC and we have done pretty much everything that we can do at this stage. I think we have to rely on the judgement of the IOC and what they think is best.”

Squash is facing competition for a 2020 spot from Baseball and softball who have now combined forces, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu.

The decision on the chosen sport will be made later this year.

Read Alex Gough’s full featured profile interview here>> 

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