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Squash, or 'squash rackets' as it was known in its early days, was invented at Harrow School, England, around 1830 and grew gradually until the 1960s, when it suddenly exploded in popularity worldwide. The reason for the dramatic growth is easily explained: squash is a sport which combines fitness, fun and competition, and it delivers all of this in an hour of intense and absorbing action.
Squash is played by two players on an enclosed court with a floor area of 9.75 meters by 6.4 meters. The players strike the ball alternately on to the front wall, which is 4.75 meters high and has an 'out of bounds' board measuring 480 mm across the bottom. Players can hit the ball directly to the front wall or use the sidewalls and rear wall to create subtle winning shots. Play starts with a service and continues until one player cannot return the ball correctly before it has bounced twice on the floor. The scoring in squash is five games to nine points each, with a player only winning a point when serving. If the non-serving player wins a rally, he or she becomes the server and can score points.
The reason why squash is so different and exciting is that the ball is very slow. This characteristic means that as the ball bounces slowly off the floor, the players have to run faster and harder to return it to the front wall. Squash requires fitness and intelligence; it has even been called 'jet propelled chess'. It is a sport where two novices can have long and energetic rallies which build fitness in a fun way, while expert players show that to really succeed in the sport you need the speed of a sprinter and the endurance of a marathon runner combined with exceptional agility, coordination and intellect.
Squash is now played in 150 countries worldwide, of which 118 are members of the World Squash Federation. Over 15 million players compete regularly on over 50'000 dedicated Squash courts. Squash is played in The World Games, Asian Games, All Africa Games, Pan-American Games and Commonwealth Games. An application to be included in the Olympic Games was presented to the IOC. It was last voted upon by the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, where it narrowly failed to make it onto the program of the London 2012 Olympics. Squash has annual World Championships for men, women and juniors in both individual and team formats.
Television coverage of squash has increased enormously since the invention of the all-glass court in 1982. These spectacular courts have four glass walls with one-way vision, over 2000 spectators can see in but the players see only an opaque, plain wall. The courts have been used in a variety of exotic locations worldwide, including New York's Grand Central Station, the beach in Hurghada on the Red Sea and under the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
Squash was first played in The World Games in Lahti, Finland, in 1997. Ahmed Barada (EGY) won the men's gold medal and Sarah Fitz-Gerald (AUS) beat Sabine Shoene (GER) in the women's final.
 Squash at The World Games 2005
Squash events on the Official Sports Program of The World Games 2009 Kaohsiung:
Men's and Women's Individual Tournament
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Squash at The World Games 2005