Double Olympic cycling gold medallist Victoria Pendleton has thrown her support behind squash’s bid for Olympic inclusion and thinks seven-times world champion Nicol David should have the chance to win Malaysia’s first gold at the 2020 Games.

One sport will be added to the programme for the 2020 Games with squash up against karate, the Chinese martial art of wushu, baseball/softball, roller sports, wakeboarding and climbing.

The International Olympic Committee will make its decision on a host for the 2020 Games, as well as which sport to add, at its session in Argentina in September.

Pendleton watched the World Series Squash Finals at The Queen’s Club in London with fellow gold medallists Joanna Row-sell and Greg Searle and said the sport had all the ingredients to make it an Olympic favourite.

“Squash is a very physically demanding sport and it’s also very spectator-friendly,” Pendleton, who won track cycling gold medals in Beijing and London, was quoted as saying.

“The nature of the game means that it works really well – it’s fast and exciting – and it has all the qualities required to make it a great Olympic sport. I don’t know why it isn’t in already.”

Malaysian David beat England’s Laura Massaro to retain her title at the weekend, while Egyptian Amr Shabana took the men’s title with a win over Englishman Nick Matthew.

Pendleton hailed David’s consistency and showed the world number one the keirin gold and sprint silver medals she won in London.

“You so deserve to have one of these,” she told the Malaysian.