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confirms that there had been 6 Squash
Courts at the ‘Queens Club of Colombo'
then known as the ‘Princes' Club', located
at the heart of Colombo. Presently only
two are in use and maintained, rest being
converted to Badminton, Gymnasiums etc.
How ever, until early 1981, it was
considered only a Social Game' amongst the
Armed Forces Officers and a very few in
the exclusive private clubs, with total
number of Squash Courts in the whole
island being less than 20. Only organized
Squash activity at competitive level was
an annual friendly dual between the Royal
Ceylon Air Force officers playing a
friendly match of about 7-9 singles, which
was fiercely contested, against the
‘Queens Club' members, which usually ended
up as an evening of fun and games, venue
being changed alternatively from the Air
Force Mess to the Queens Club.
With the expansion of the tourist industry
in Sri Lanka , many Hotels have built
Squash Courts and even the Schools and
Clubs are now in the process of following
suit. Today the number of Squash Courts
exceeds 150 in the island.
The Squash Federation of Sri Lanka was
officially formed in early 1981, and was
received official accreditation from the
Ministry of Sports, and subsequently from
the World Squash Federation and the newly
formed Asian Squash Federation.
Since then the SLSF has been taking part
at every Asian Senior and Junior
Championships in both Men & women
categories annually conducted by the ASF,
with out a break.
Sri Lanka hosted the Asian Junior
Championships in 1991 in Colombo .
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THE WORLD SQUASH FEDERATION
The
first squash court was built in England in
1864; there are now some 50,000 courts in
more than 185 nations worldwide. To
harness this growth and to promote and
co-ordinate the sport, the International
Squash Rackets Federation (ISRF) was
formed in 1967, its name being changed in
1992 to the World Squash Federation (WSF).
The WSF
is recognised by the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) as the International
Federation (IF) for squash. The WSF is a
member of the General Association of
International Sports Federations (GAISF)
and the Association of the IOC Recognised
International Sports Federations (ARISF).
MEMBERSHIP
The WSF has 147 Members, all of whom are
National Associations of squash,
recognised by their National Olympic
Committee (NOC) or Ministry of Sport as
the sole and undisputed governing body for
the sport in the country. Members are
required to join one of the five Regional
Federations which are an integral part of
the WSF structure. Members receive a
number of votes to be used at General
Meetings depending on the number of squash
courts in their country.
MANAGEMENT OF THE WSF
The WSF is managed by a Management
Committee (ManCom), responsible for
day-to-day control of the Federation and
an Executive Committee (ExCo) which
assists ManCom in the strategy and policy
making process. Members of ManCom are
elected at General Meetings and consist of
a President and three Vice-Presidents, who
each serve two year terms of office. One
additional Vice-President may be co-opted
on an annual basis if required.
ExCo
comprises all members of ManCom plus one
Regional Vice-President appointed by each
of the five Regional Federations. The
Chairman of the Athletes Commission and
representatives of the Men’s and Women’s
Players Associations are also invited to
attend Executive Committee meetings.
ManCom
is supported by a number of Committees,
Commissions and Panels whose members are
volunteers with specialist knowledge
coming from the Regional Federations and
Player Associations. The WSF employs
professional staff who are responsible for
implementing the decisions of these bodies
whose main activities are described below.
What
the WSF DOES
WORLD CALENDAR OF EVENTS
The WSF works closely with the two Player
Associations - the (men’s) Professional
Squash Association (PSA) and the Women’s
International Squash Players Association (WISPA)
- to control and co-ordinate the world
calendar for squash. Championships are
held in all major squash playing nations
and are integrated with the World
Championships and Major Games calendar to
ensure that there are no clashes of dates.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AND MAJOR GAMES
The Championships Committee is responsible
for running and promoting World
Championships for men, women, boys, girls
and masters at individual and team levels
in both singles and doubles. World
Championships are run by WSF Members, who
tender for the events at least four years
in advance. Team Championships are held
every two years; and Open/Individual
Championships are held annually. The
Committee is also responsible for ensuring
that squash is represented in all major
regional multi-sport games - squash is now
included in the Pan-American Games, Asian
Games, Commonwealth Games, World Games and
All Africa Games.
OLYMPIC GAMES
The WSF has established an Olympic Games
Committee which is responsible for
conducting a high-profile campaign for
squash to be accepted at the IOC Session
in October 2009 as a full medal sport in
the Olympic Games in 2016. A special
website has been established for this
purpose – see
http://squash2016.info
ATHLETES COMMISSION
The Athletes Commission comprises four
representatives from PSA and four
representatives from WISPA. The Chairman,
an athlete, reports to ExCo and represents
the interests of the current players in
areas such as Championship Regulations and
implementation of the new WADA Code.
DEVELOPMENT AND COACHING
The WSF encourages the development of
squash, not only in countries where it is
a new sport but also where it is already
well-established. Advice on all
development matters is given to Members
and is implemented through the group of
WSF specialists in the Development and
Coaching Committee and via “best practice”
on the WSF website. Committee Members
identify needs for development projects in
their regions and recommend activity plans
to the WSF for resources and funding. The
Committee organises a Coaching Conference
on a biennial basis and runs coaching
courses in new and developing squash
nations to help develop local coaches. The
Committee also organises a Management
Conference for senior executives in
National Associations so they can network,
share resources and establish best
practice on the WSF website.
RULES AND REFEREEING
The Referees and Rules Committee
continually monitors the rules of the
sport and makes recommendations for
change. It also provides a very popular
on-line advisory service (called “Ask
Don”) to the public at large on
interpretation of the rules. The Committee
has responsibility for implementing and
running a Referees’ Programme which
trains, accredits and assesses the top two
grades of WSF official - International
Referee and World Referee. A Referees
Conference is organised on a biennial
basis.
COURT AND EQUIPMENT SPECIFICATIONS
The Technical Committee sets standards for
all technical aspects of squash including
court construction, rackets, balls, eye
protection and clothing. It inspects and
accredits court components which meet the
specifications and works with its partner
companies to promote good practice in
court construction worldwide.
ANTI-DOPING
The Anti-Doping Commission ensures that
squash is fully compliant with the new
WADA Code. The Commission is responsible
for establishing a Registered Testing Pool
and an Athletes Whereabouts System for
out-of-competition testing. It has
established a panel of physicians which
reviews Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE)
and calls on specialist Doping Hearing and
Review Panels when required.
MEDICAL
The Medical Commission generates positive
guidelines for all medical aspects of
playing and training for squash. It
identifies and gives medical advice on
topics such as eye protection, heart
health, injury prevention and injury
management.
ETHICS AND DISCIPLINARY MATTERS
The WSF
has recently established an independent
Ethics Panel at the suggestion of the IOC.
It also has a well-established
Disciplinary Committee supported by an
independent Appeals Panel when necessary -
fortunately this is called upon very
rarely.
PROMOTION AND PUBLICITY
The WSF delivers an information and
publicity service to squash players and
the sports media worldwide. Press
information is circulated regularly
through the WSF's Media Director, who is
also responsible for ensuring that
up-to-date information on World
Championships and other major squash
events appears on the World Squash
Federation website -
www.worldsquash.org
Memorandum &
Articles of Association |
