Why won’t Olympic chiefs let us in? asks David

Nicol David’s glittering CV lacks only Olympic gold but the world squash number one refuses to let Games chiefs block her dream of one day seeing it admitted into sport’s biggest showpiece.

Unfortunately for her, any approval looks likely to come too late for the 27-year-old now.

In an exclusive interview with Reuters on Wednesday, the extraordinary David who has dominated the women’s game for coming up to five years, spoke of her regret that Olympic bosses do not seem to recognise squash’s global appeal.

“I think it’s just really unfortunate that squash, with so much potential it could offer to the Olympics, is not in there,” David said from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh where she will participate in the World Open this week.

“But we know that we have a good sport that can really be a big name in the Games,” David added in the telephone interview.

“We will keep pushing and hopefully we’ll get in there (in the Olympic programme) some day.”

Squash lost out to golf and rugby sevens in an International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision last year to add those professional sports to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics programme.

The Malaysian David, of mixed Indian and Chinese descent, had said she would not even contemplate retirement if she could compete in the Rio Games.

TOPPED RANKINGS

David can already be counted among squash’s all-time greats having topped the world rankings since January 2006 and winning four world crowns from her last five attempts.

She admitted the sport was missing the commercial side to be as popular as tennis. “I think we have great and big champions

... the history they (squash champions) have is very big,” she said.

“The commercial aspect has just come in recently and we still need to have the development, I mean the media and everything need to be stronger ... that is our place to get the squash up, definitely.” David, who would equal Australia’s Sarah Fitz-Gerald record of five World Open titles if she lifted the trophy in Sharm El Sheikh next Wednesday, paid tribute to her family for helping her become one of the best all-time players.

“I just have my family, they are really supportive. My parents are coming to watch the World Open here in Sharm,” David said.

“I think there is really good support system around me and also I love the game so much,” she added. “I just want to keep improving myself, I want to do better every time.”

David, who is unbeaten so far this year and starts her campaign against a qualifier on Saturday, said the all-glass court in the Egyptian Red Sea resort has been the highlight of the tournament.

“To have the glass court here in Sharm El Sheikh for all the top players to play on including myself is just spectacular, because it’s a great venue.

“Squash is popular in Egypt. The people here know what the game is all about and this is good for players as well.”

The tournament kicked off on Wednesday with six Egyptian players advancing to the second qualifying round.