The 1908 Olympic Games began in the afternoon of 27 April 1908, when Evan Noel defeated Cecil Browning in the first round of the racquets tournament. Racquets is another racket sport, somewhat similar to squash rackets, which is a modern, now more popular variant. In 1908 racquets was primarily popular in Great Britain. In fact, there were no entrants or competitors from any other nation. The Official Report noted, “Racquets, it may be noted, is always so expensive a game that, except at the public schools, the number of players is always so restricted and, out of the United Kingdom, India and the United States of America are the only countries where the game is played, which may be a reason for not including it in future programmes for the Olympic Games.”