Tuesday February 19, 2013

NSC back Nicol’s bid for squash’s inclusion in Olympics

BUKIT JALIL: Squash queen Nicol David’s tireless effort to push for the sport’s inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games programme received the thumbs-up from the National Sports Council (NSC).

And the government body will continue to support and back Nicol to see her dream of getting squash into the Olympics fullfilled.

On Saturday, the six-time world champion Nicol managed to get the support of tennis star Roger Federer to intensify the sport’s campaign to get into the Olympics.

The endorsement of Federer, winner of 17 Grand Slam titles, came in the wake of International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s decision to drop wrestling from the Games and this has given an opportunity for squash to get included.

NSC’s elite programme director Ariffin Ghani said Nicol’s latest move to get Federer’s support was a tremendous boost for her campaign.

“Nicol is already an icon in squash but she is also very driven in pushing for squash to be an Olympic sport. We admire her committment,” said Ariffin yesterday.

“We do hope her dream will come true. Even if she does not get to compete as player in the Games, we hope that she will be able to ensure that the future generation of squash players get to play in the Games.

“We are happy that there are few juniors coming through after Nicol and players like Low Wee Wern will surely benefit if the sport makes it.

“NSC have been very supportive of squash and we will continue to give our 100% backing.”

For the record, besides squash, the other sports hoping to get into the Olympic Games programme are karate, wushu, baseball and softball.

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