Former WSF president Ramachandran thrilled at squash being included in the Olympics
The Hindu
N. Ramachandran, former WSF president, is proud to have played a part in the sport's inclusion in LA 2028. Joshna Chinappa, a former World top-10 player, is excited to have the chance to compete in the Olympics in 2028.
N. Ramachandran, who held the post of president of the World Squash Federation (WSF), still remembers the time when he attended the IOC session in Singapore in 2005 as “a young vice-president of WSF”.
“The IOC session had Sussie Simcock, the then president of WSF, and the legendary Jahangir Khan in attendance. But in those days, we required a two-thirds majority among the IOC members for a sport to get in Olympics. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that,” he said.
The 74-year-old said in his two terms as WSF president (2008 & ‘12) , he did his best to get squash into the Olympics, but in vain. “I would like to thank US Squash and Los Angeles Olympic Committee and the World Squash Federation for recommending squash and thrilled to see squash being part of LA 2028. It has been my dream to have squash in Olympics and I am so happy and proud of the part I’ve played,” he said.
Joshna Chinappa is excited and thrilled to see the sport in the Olympics. The 37-year-old, a former World top-10 player, who was part of the women’s team that won bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games said: “It was a long-time coming and I am looking forward to it.”
Joshna said the mere thought of playing in Olympics in 2028 is exciting. “Just thinking of the possibility as a player in Los Angeles is exciting. Five years is a long time. I am motivated to see if there is a possibility,” she said.
He has worn India’s blues, albeit in an Under-19 World Cup, with K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat as his teammates. He has proudly adorned the Lion’s Crest — the famed Mumbai cricket logo — in all three formats. He has played with Yuvraj Singh, against Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid and has the likes of Rahul and Joe Root in his illustrious list of dismissals. He is also a software developer for an IT giant, based in California. Virtually every middle-class Indian over the last three decades at some stage dreams of being either a cricketer or an IT professional. Saurabh Netravalkar has been combining two dreams, even after relocating to USA to pursue academics at the prestigious Cornell University in 2015.
Unlike most of the Olympic-bound athletes, who opt to train abroad before the big event, boxer Amit Panghal prefers training in home conditions prior to Paris 2024. A former World championships silver medallist and a World No. 1, Panghal won the 51kg quota place in the only chance he got. He wants to follow his own plans to script success in Paris.