James Willstrop hoping for Olympics to recognise squash

World number one James Willstrop heaves a huge sigh of regret as he thinks back to this summer's London Olympics. He is sorry that his beloved sport failed to make the cut back in 2005 when the International Olympic Committee was deciding which new sports should come to the party.

"It was upsetting that we were not at the London Olympics, the world's biggest sporting occasion. It would have meant so much to be able to play in front of the cheering crowds but it was sad squash didn't get the recognition it deserves," said Willstrop, who is in town to defend his title at this week's Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open.

Squash's failure to win the vote in 2005 at the IOC Congress in Singapore probably cost Team GB a couple of gold medals as Englishmen Willstrop and Nick Matthew are the top-two ranked players in the world and would have been favourites to win the men's singles and doubles matches.

But this memory has been pushed back to the inner recesses of the mind, as Willstrop and company - the women are in town too - focus on putting on a great show this week, as the Hong Kong Open has been earmarked as a test event by the IOC, with two observers assessing the sport.

Squash is up against baseball, softball, karate, wakeboarding, wushu, roller sports and sport climbing, all vying for one berth at the 2020 Olympics.

The Yorkshire-born Willstrop, 29, concurs that by the time 2020 rolls around, he would probably be too old to lift his graphite racket. This year's Olympics would have seen him in the prime of his life. But despite having missed out, Willstrop says he and his peers are pushing strongly for the sport's inclusion.