LONDON, Dec 14: The World Squash Federation has backed an initiative to introduce a world junior ranking scheme, which will unify the current junior competition programmes at regional and national level.

The decision was taken by the delegates who attended the 37th Annual General Meeting of the World Squash Federation in Bermuda, said a WSF news release Friday. The three-day conference was held on the north Atlantic island during the World Open Championship.

Squash has boasted biennial world individual and team championships for both boys and girls since the early 1980s. In addition, there are flourishing junior circuits in Europe, Asia, Oceania and Pan America, which attract Under-11 to Under-19 players from both within and outside the regions.

In a mark of the sport’s universality, all continents were represented in the top 10 of the last World Junior Men’s Championships, and in the top seven of the most recent Junior Women’s Championships.

Furthermore, there have been notable recent transitions from the junior to senior circuit, with Malaysia’s Nicol David following her historic double world junior title win with supremacy in the senior game, and Egypt’s Ramy Ashour — also a two-time world junior champion — already at No2 in the men’s senior rankings.

“Junior Squash is thriving globally and we are investing more resources than ever to accommodate this growth,” said WSF President and former world champion Jahangir Khan. “We already have competitions at National, Regional and World level at U-19 so the growth is coming from increasing draw sizes, new age categories and more frequent events.

He further said the conference discussed various new initiatives to nurture and support this growth among which is a proposal to create a World Junior Ranking System. Furthermore, we are considering making the World Junior Individual Championship an annual event; creating an Asia-Pacific Junior Circuit; and introducing web streaming.

“We already know that our Junior Programme is very strong as evidenced by the meteoric rise of Nicol David and Ramy Ashour within the Professional Tours and the spread of talent across regions. It is very exciting to see this trend continuing,” added Jahangir.

The delegates were also informed on Squash’s Olympic bid for the 2012 Games and were told about the significant boost the sport will enjoy following the election of WSF Patron Tunku Imran as an IOC member. The success of a recent presentation made to IOC President Dr Jacques Rogge, in which the sport’s universality and worldwide appeal were discussed was also highlighted.

The WSF’s plans for 2008/09 were discussed, leading to the critical IOC session in 2009 when decisions will be made for the 2016 Games.

A decision was also taken at the AGM to change the dimensions of the Doubles Squash court in order to make the international game more appealing to spectators, athletes and television audiences alike.

In addition to the World championships, launched in 1997, International Doubles is also featured in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games from 2010, with expectations for Doubles to be a feature of the Pan American Games the following year.

After a thorough review of international Doubles Squash, initiated by a Task Force set up by Squash New Zealand and later corroborated by Squash Australia, the proposal was accepted to increase the standard width of a Doubles court by 80cm (from 762 to 842cm).

“Following the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, it became clear that the Doubles discipline needed an overhaul if it is to be successful at the elite level,” said Jahangir. “Some matches had lasted too long and rallies often resulted in lets. We needed to enhance our presentation to make the game more exciting for athletes and spectators alike.”

The vast majority of Doubles courts around the world have ‘moveable wall’ technology, enabling the new width change to be accommodated with ease.

“This change has been introduced for implementation at WSF-recognised events at the elite level,” added Khan. “We expect recreational players to continue enjoying the game in an existing Doubles court where widening is not possible.”

Full membership was granted to Sri Lanka and Ecuador bringing the total to 138 nations. Sri Lanka made their debut in this month’s World Men’s Team Squash Championship in India, while Ecuador will compete for the first time in the 2008 World Junior Men’s Championships in Switzerland.—Agencies