Portugal Colonial - Olympic status a massive 'boost' for squash says European champion Crouin

Tennis, table tennis and badminton all outstrip squash in terms of licensed player participation in France but Crouin is convinced this will now change.

"The Olympics will give us notoriety," the triple European champion and world number six told AFP.

In France, there are just 22,000 licensed squash players compared to 254,000 in table tennis and over 1.2 million for tennis.

So when squash was added to the Olympic roster after the 2024 Paris Games after years of bidding for a place, Crouin was delighted.

"I couldn't believe it was true," he said. "This is now my career objective. As a squash player, I've always felt a bit excluded (from the Olympics) until now."

Places for LA are limited however to 16 male and 16 female players.

"It makes for one less match to win and a better chance of a medal," said Crouin, who studied economics at Harvard.

He believes his sport will make an attractive spectacle for fans.

"It's a spectacular sport. Squash is often described as a game of chess in a boxing ring," he said.

Other sports either added or back on the programme for the LA Olympics are cricket, flag football, baseball and softball.

L.Mesquita--PC