IT is time the International Olympic Committee included more sports -- such as squash, cricket, rugby and golf -- to make the Olympics truly a festival of international sports.

Over the years, the IOC must be credited for adding tennis, badminton, volleyball, etc, and it has enhanced the image of these sports. Sports such as squash, golf, rugby and cricket could become more popular with a boost by the IOC.

Squash is now played by tens of millions of enthusiasts in urban settings the world over. Even though there are various tournaments for squash throughout the year, including squash in the Olympics would remove a major shortcoming the sport faces as a truly international sport.

Furthermore, competition in squash is stiff in both the men's and women's categories and the top 10 players hail from as many diverse countries, thereby making the sport extremely competitive and open. The same applies to cricket, rugby and golf, where the number of countries participating is large and there is no domination by any one country.

One of the main tenets of the IOC is that for inclusion as an Olympic sport, the pool of countries and players involved in the sport should be large and competitive. Squash, cricket, golf and rugby fulfil this criterion.
One should compare this criterion with table tennis which, although an Olympic sport, has a very small pool of players and nations and the sport is dominated by China. Seldom do Japan, North or South Korea or any European nation win medals in table tennis at the Olympics. However, it would not be right to exclude table tennis just because of this.

The IOC needs to consider recent developments in some sports. For cricket, the IOC can choose either the one-day game or the Twenty 20 format. Cricket is now a sport with more than a billion fans. The same applies to rugby and golf. What more credentials are needed to include these sports in the Olympics?

Additionally, the IOC needs to bridge the widening gulf between the top 10 medal-winning nations and the rest of the world.

Providing financial grants to poorer member nations to enhance sports training programmes has proven to be largely ineffective.

It would be better if the IOC could set up a couple of Olympics training academies to provide top-rate facilities and training and coaching by international experts. This can be a cost-effective way by the IOC to narrow the gap between Olympians of various nations.

Many of the poorer and developing nations could use these academies to upgrade the potential of their sportsmen.

The "Olympic divide" is as wide and serious as the other divides that discriminate against humanity, and the IOC should take concrete steps to ensure a more level playing field for countries taking part in the Olympics.