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Wrestling Gets Olympic Nod
| 95 of the IOC members voted on Sunday to decide which of the three finalists would be admitted into the 2020 Olympic Games. Wrestling won on the first ballot. The voting results were as follows:
- 49 Wrestling
- 24 Baseball / Softball
- 22 Squash
To see ESPN's coverage, please click here.
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Images from Buenos Aires
|  Squash representatives from around the globe made squash's case for Olympic inclusion.
To see images from squash's presentation, please click here.
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Reaction from the Squash Community
| Reaction from the global squash leaders in the immediate aftermath:
Nick Matthew: Despite today's disappointment the World of Squash can be massively proud of its efforts over these past 4 years Link
Pierre Bastien: Let please Link
Nicol David: Yes, it's disappointing. But from what we've done in the last few years with the campaign, it made women's squash stronger and brought the whole squash community together. Link
England Squash: We'll keep growing the game, invest in new facilities and develop world-class players #squash Link
Brett Erasmus: One could conclude that this whole thing was a charade & squash will never be Olympic no matter what we do. Link
Squash New Zealand: Despite not making the 2020 Olympics, we are still proud of the squash community's outstanding efforts to promote the sport and try to get Olympic inclusion for our athletes. Link
Squash Canada: Disappointed with the result but still so proud of the case our sport presented. Well done to the @Vote4Squash team & the squash community. Link
Squash 2020: 49 Votes for Wrestling, 24 for baseball-softball and, 22 for @vote4squash. We ran a great bid, our best ever. Thank you everyone. #gutted Link
N Ramachandran: "Today's decision is heart-breaking for the millions of Squash players around the world, particularly given the 10-year journey we have been on to join the Olympic Games Sports Programme. As the only new Olympic sport on today's shortlist, we believed Squash offered something for the future and I still hope that our inclusion may still be possible. WSA Chairman Ingrid Lofdahl-Bentzer: "We would like to congratulate wrestling on its successful bid to be in 2020 Olympic Games. I'm personally v.proud of the effort from #squash and esp. our players. We are desperately disappointed but very optimistic about the growth of our sport and the future of squash. Link Pro Squash Tour: Congratulations to FILA and the world-wide wrestling community. Someday, we will join you.
Although the vote did not go squash's way, World Squash deserves a great deal of credit for a well executed campaign and presentation. Link
PSA World Tour:
The presentation in Buenos Aires yesterday was something we can all be proud of - and shows the great future that squash has, with or without the Olympics. Our sport has much to offer the Games - let's hope that this is not the end of our Olympic journey." Link
Mike Lee: The Olympic journey may not be over yet, a new IOC President + the strength of the case for #squash may provide another twist. Link
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. . . and Hopefully Baseball is Successful in the Future ???
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In announcing wrestling's re-admittance into the Olympics, the IOC President Jacques Rogge couldn't resist one final punishing blow to squash's effort. At the very end of his announcement, he says "and hopefully baseball is successful in the future." To see the IOC President's announcement, please click here.
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Squash's White Whale
|  As this 1975 Squash Player Magazine cover suggests squash has been looking for its passport to the Olympic Games for some time.
Is the Olympic effort turning into squash's white whale?
To see Squash Player Magazine's tumblr page, please click here.
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Separated at Birth ?
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 Squash empresario John Nimick hosted his annual exhibition event in Boston this past week. And he'll head to the left coast later this month for another event. Maybe, he'll see his body double while in California. |
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 Two days after the IOC vote, John Nimick released a gracious statement with two suggestions to grow squash's fan base. 1) eliminate the let 2) become technologically innovative Eliminate the let? Now that is innovative. To read Daily Squash Report's coverage, please click here. |
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 Speaking of 2020, this year and next are the best time to see the northern lights until after the year 2020. The northern lights, or aurora borealis, happen when electrically charged particles from the sun hit Earth's upper atmosphere and cause the air molecules to glow. The top of our atmosphere shimmers like a flickering fluorescent tube and colored lights can dance, twirl and pulse for hours. Alaskans, Canadians, and those in the cooler northern states should keep a watch for the northern lights. To read MultiBriefs article, please click here. |
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MIT squash coach Nadeem Mazen is running for public office. He wants your support on November 5th, and he needs your money now. To see Nadeem's video, please click here.
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America's 50 Most Expensive Private High Schools
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 At $44,885 per year in tuition and fees, BusinessInsider.com is calling The Lawrenceville School, America's most expensive private high school. Note: That figure does not include room and board. To see Business Insiders' complete list of the most expensive high schools in the U.S., please click here. |
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Come On
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 Why do tennis player's say "Come on," so often? To see DeadSpin's article, please click here |
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September 20-29
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 To register for Women's Squash Week, please click here. |
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BBC to Air PSA Championship
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BBC will broadcast late round matches of the Professional Squash Association's Championship event later this year. PSA Squash TV's product has improved in recent years, and fans in England will be able to enjoy this extra coverage. To see World Squash Federation's announcement, please click here. |
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Clean, Creative, Pure Squash
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 James Willstrop and John White are literally giants on a squash court. This video shows two players playing squash creatively, intelligently, and respectfully. And commentator Martin Heath sees it. What is missing from this video? The unnecessary blocking and fishing that characterizes so much of today's game. To see the video, please click here.
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Last Week's Question
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Last week we asked you: "Will the IOC's decision impact how often you play squash?" 
9 in 10 of you said no.
Here are the comments that were left as well.
To see last week's results, please click here.
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Question of the Week
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Do you want squash to try again to get into the Olympics?
To cast your vote, please click here.
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Play the Bobcat Classic
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Pro Squash Tour is returning to Bates College, and they're bringing Thierry Lincou and David Palmer with them this coming Sept. 27.
The amateur tournament happens on Friday night and Saturday and includes free tickets to every pro match.
To register for the amateur tournanent, please click here.
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TRUTH & Rumors
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 The first question after squash's presentation to the IOC was from Pakistan's representative Syed Shahid Ali.- It was a snide comment expressing anger that Pakistanis were not prominent in squash's presentation.
- Egypt's IOC representative didn't attend the meeting in Buenos Aires. The Pakistani guy was a jerk, but at least he showed up.
- As Squash Ezine readers know, the IOC decision was not a surprise to insiders (or outsiders), but the squash establishment shamelessly kept up the "now or never" campaign to keep the checks coming in.
- Don't believe us? Check out this video from England Squash and Racketball. It features Nick Matthew talking about the sadness of seeing squash not get into the Olympics.
- Fair enough, except the video was uploaded to YouTube on September 3, and the IOC didn't vote until 5 days later on September 8.
- The Squashist, who is prone to emotional outbursts, did not reach rhetorical heights with this article.
- This year's most interesting college recruiting battle is between the women's teams of Harvard and Princeton. Both desperately want to sign Philadelphia's Olivia Fiechter.
- Despite a full, professional touring schedule that got Nour El Sherbini to a world #4 ranking on the WSA tour, she is still competing for Egypt in junior tournaments.
- It turns out that was too much. Sherbini's body broke down with injuries during this summer's world junior championships, and her doctors will not let her return to competition until 2014.
- Athletes need off-seasons so there bodies can recover.
- When did junior events become so important, anyway?
- New Zealand's former National Champion Campbell Grayson for years came to NYC for several months to play on the U.S. circuit. But living on Bradley Ball's couch probably isn't the same now that Brad Attack is a married man.
- So Grayson now finds himself as a pro in residence at suburban Boston's Cross Courts club.
- And he's traded up from Brad Attack's couch to a member's guest house. #attaboy
- Campbell's brother, and great guy, Alex is still sidelined with a knee that just isn't getting better.
- Last week, we highlighted (here) a debate that resulted from a WSA twitter post.
- But Ezine readers were disappointed to find a bad link.
- Not our fault.
- As soon as WSA execs read that Squash Ezine was sharing their online exchange, they hastily deleted the tweet.
- Why tweet something you don't want people to read?
- John Nimick, is apparently enamored of the squash without lets concept.
- But there's no truth to any rumor that he will have his Tournament of Champions sanctioned by the Pro Squash Tour (PST), this coming season.
- PST, of course, removed the traditional let from its matches in 2010.
- John says he hopes his tour can catch up by 2020.
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Tell a Friend
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