WSF: Social media surge for Olympic bid

September 2, 2013 - 8:59pm
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Nick Matthew and Victoria Pendleton

Nick Matthew and Victoria Pendleton

Social Media Surge For Squash 2020

More than 20,000 Facebook likes over the last seven days

2 September 2013

With less than a week to go until the International Olympic Committee (IOC) votes to decide if Squash will join the2020 Olympic Games, the Squash bid campaign has received worldwide surging social media support.

As the campaign looks to build further momentum in the lead up to the IOC presentation on the 8th September, the Squash 2020 Facebook page has now registered over 124,000 likes (a 21% increase over the last seven days) with the ‘Back the Bid’ film on YouTube receiving almost 153,000 views and @Vote4Squash Twitter account fast approaching 10,000 followers.

As the only new sport to be shortlisted for inclusion at the 2020 Olympic Games, Squash has received social media support from across the globe, including Brazil, Egypt, Columbia, Spain, South Africa, Japan, Switzerland, India, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Malaysia – once again highlighting Squash’s global appeal and its popularity across all ages and languages.

Leading stars like Nick Matthew and Nicol David have been enthusiastic supporters of the campaign, with numerous messages on Facebook and Twitter.

Nick Matthew, having been photographed with Victoria Pendleton in London earlier this year, added another cycling star to squash’s Olympic fan club today as he posed alongside London 2012 favourite Laura Trott with a Back The Bid sign.

He has also persuaded Olympic heroine Jessica Ennis-Hill, a training partner in Sheffield, to do the same.

Women’s world champion Nicol David has been blogging away non-stop, taking part in all manner of publicity activities to promote the bid, and repeating her quote: “I would happily trade all seven of my world titles for one Olympic gold medal.”

Nick Matthew and Laura Trott

Nick Matthew and Laura Trott

Commenting on Squash’s online support, World Squash Federation President N Ramachandran, said: “Digital and social media is a great platform to engage and bring people together and it is fantastic to see the growing number of people from around the world supporting Squash 2020 online.

“Once again, this highlights Squash’s commitment to innovation and the sport’s growing appeal to young people as a fast, exciting and dynamic sport.

“Squash can genuinely offer something exciting and fresh to the Olympic experience and as we look to build further momentum in the lead up to the 125th IOC Session, I hope that more and more people will support our bid and help persuade the IOC to vote for Squash on 8th September.”

Like WorldSquash on Facebook WorldSquash on Facebook
Follow @WorldSquash on Twitter @WorldSquash on Twitter

Support the Squash 2020 Olympic Campaign:
Like BackTheBid2020 on Facebook BackTheBid2020 on Facebook
Follow @Vote4Squash on Twitter @Vote4Squash on Twitter

 

 

 

 

Nicol David pictured in KL

Nicol David pictured in KL

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