Olympic hope quashed

SQUASH Australia’s national development manager Trevor Smith has questioned a decision not to include the racquet sport in the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympics.

His reaction comes after Tokyo officials submitted a proposal to the IOC that recommended skateboarding, surfing, baseball/softball and rock climbing – but not squash – be added to the list of newly approved sports for those Games in five years’ time.

In Cairns to oversee the Australian junior squash championships at Sportsworld, Smith said it was a bitter blow.

“Squash is a traditional sport enjoyed by a lot of people both here and abroad, so we are naturally very disappointed that it has missed the cut,” he said.

“Every athlete’s dream is to compete at the Olympics and that’s no different for squash players.

“The reality is we would love our sport to be given the chance to be played on the global stage and showcased to the rest of the world at an Olympic Games.”

Meanwhile, the individual phase of the national junior titles wrapped up yesterday.

Queensland’s Alex Fustace ended the dream run of South Australia’s Alex Oswald to win the under-19s boys title in a hard-fought, five-set encounter.

It was the 17-year-old’s fourth straight win over his fifth-seeded rival.

The match wasn’t without incident, with an injury time-out called after Fustace was accidentally hit by his opponent’s racquet.

In the girls competition, No.1 seed and favourite Lakeesha Rarere proved too classy for fellow Queenslander Samantha Calvert to claim the under-19s title.