Mr N Ramachandran has been appointed as the first Indian President of the World Squash Federation (WSF).
Ramachandran was elected at Federation's 38th Annual General Meeting in Manchester and succeeds Jahangir Khan, the legendary former player from Pakistan who has completed his maximum six-year tenure.
In a statement to the press, Ramachandran, said: “I am humbled by this wonderful appointment as President of the World Squash Federation and look forward to working closely with all 144 of our Member National Federations. In the short term, I will be working towards the pursuit and fulfilment of our Olympic dream for Squash and ensuring that we continue our promotion and development of the sport worldwide."
Three Vice Presidents were also elected at the meeting. Heather Deayton (Hong Kong) and Gerard DeCourcy (New Zealand) retained their positions on the board, while Chris Stahl took the third position following the last-minute withdrawal of current VP and fellow European Frank van Loon (Netherlands).
In one of the most controversial issues handled at an AGM in recent years, the delegates also voted overwhelmingly to adopt a new universal 'Point A Rally' scoring system for Squash, to 11 points per game - as is currently the case in the professional game for both men and women. The sport's new official scoring system will come into effect from 1 April 2009.
In addition, delegates unanimously elected the Cayman Islands and Trinidad & Tobago to full membership of the WSF, while Georgia, FYR Macedonia, Romania, Lesotho and Bolivia were welcomed as Associate Members. Decisions on the hosting of future World Championships were also announced at the AGM: New Zealand will stage the 2010 World Women's Team Championships, while India will now stage the 2009 World Junior Men's Individual Championship alongside the World Junior Women's Individual and Team Championships.
