Harbourside glass squash court shows off sport for Olympics

Wet weather failed to dampen spirits at the weekend's Hong Kong Open, and federation officials hope IOC representatives saw the sport's potential to feature on the 2020 Olympic programme.

One sport will be added to the programme for the 2020 Games, with squash up against karate, wushu, baseball, softball, roller sports, wakeboarding and sport climbing.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will make its decision on a host for the 2020 Games, as well as which sport to add, at its session in Argentina in September 2013.

The president of the World Squash Federation, Narayana Ramachandran, said he hoped that the Hong Kong Open, with its outdoor glass court on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, had left a favourable impression with the two IOC representatives.

"I could not be more happy with this weekend," Ramachandran said.

"While it is not one of our largest events by capacity, it has been framed to bring squash to the public, and the placing of the all-glass showcourt on the Avenue Of The Stars at the harbour certainly did that.

"We hope that the inspectors were happy with the staging, presentation and broadcast of our sport and that their positive impressions can be reinforced when we present to the commission as a whole in Lausanne later this month."

While rain forced the men's semi-finals to be played at an indoor venue last Saturday, the finals went ahead as planned on Sunday in the glass-walled court with Victoria Harbour in the background.

Walter Sieber, one of the two visiting IOC Programme Commission representatives, said they had learned a lot through the visit.

"We were able to make a very thorough inspection of the way the event was organised, taking into account the needs of the athletes and coaches," he said.

"Naturally, we also wanted to assess how the glass court is helping to present the sport for broadcast purposes.

"We found that the competition arrangements were of a high level, and on court we were able to see the top players in action, too. It has proven to be very informative."

World champion Nick Matthew, from England, said the Hong Kong event had shown the stunning glass showcourt could be a good fit for the Olympic Games.

"This venue shows how you can pick up and take the glass court to any great location in the world, wherever the Olympics is staged," Matthew said. "It is great that the IOC group have seen that for themselves."