LONDON: Datuk Nicol David reckons this week’s revived British Open championships will provide an outstanding example of why the sport of squash has qualities uniquely designed for a successful Olympic bid.
Nicol, who achieved a record sixth World Open title in November, hopes to aim for an Olympic medal in 2020, and believes that the famous venue for this year’s British Open shows why she may get that chance.
The O2 arena, with its twelve 100-metre high masts, 70 kilometres of cabling, dramatic lighting and smoke reservoirs, claims to have overtaken Madison Squash Garden as the world’s most popular entertainment venue. It illustrates squash’s unique claim that its courts can be erected within sight of any iconic landmark in any Olympic bidding city, such as the Sultan Ahmed mosque in Istanbul or the Royal Palace in Madrid.
“With this British Open being within a couple of months of the 2012 Olympics, and its location close to the Games’ main stadium, it helps squash make its point,” said Nicol. “This is a fantastic event, and the O2 is spectacular.
“We have to perform in a venue like this. I am talking to people at home and telling them about the event,” said the remarkable Malaysian, who missed the Asian team championships in Kuwait in order to prepare for her bid to recapture the British Open title.
“I hear that tickets are already sold out for the later stages. And there will be a lot of tourists. It is attracting many people.”
Nicol also feels squash has improved its Olympic bid from the one of three years ago.
On that occasion the sport came the closest to getting into the 2016 Games in Rio without actually doing so, finishing third behind golf and rugby sevens, the two successful new entrants.
“We are doing a lot more than then,” Nicol continued. “We are improving ourselves with the way we run the bid. We have been bringing in innovations and more spectators, and developing TV personalities.
“Hopefully this will all generate media interest around the world. And bring closer my dream of getting to go to the Olympics. Hopefully too it will be heard by the IOC, because it’s a campaign which needs to be addressed.” — AFP