F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: Legendary and squash wizard Jansher Khan Tuesday urged the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) to invest on young talented players to restore the past glory of the sports.
Talking to media persons, legendary squash player who won the British Open World Championship for record six times, said the Pakistan Squash team suffered humiliating defeats against Egypt and Switzerland teams in the WSF World Team Squash Championship played in Marseille in France.
He attributed the poor performance of the players to lack of proper concentration on the game and not doing required hard work to compete at the international level. The players were only on joyride rather to give due concentration on the game.
He said that Pakistan Squash No.1 player Farhan Mehboob was not sent to the tournament whose presence in the team would have made a difference and benefited the team. He said that Farhan Mehboob was the most experienced and talented young player among the present lot but he was ignored in the tour. He said the performance of the players sent to the tournament was not up to the mark and let the team down in the tournament. “Investing on such players is waste of tax payers’ money,” he went on to say.
Jansher, who won World Team Squash Championship and World Open Individual for the record eight times, said that Pakistan ranked 19th in the 25th World Team Squash Championship which was very disappointing for the countrymen and for Pakistan, a country rules the world of squash a record 37 years.
He said that Pakistan produced champions in squash and ruled the game for years but now Pakistan lagging behind even its archrival India who finished 7th in the tournament. “India has not achieved much in the game of squash but it still performed well than that of Pakistan in the Championship which is shocking for us,” he added.
He asked the PSA to invest on young players instead of relying on the senior ones. “We invested a lot on the senior players but they cannot make any progress or improved their skills. More investment on senior players is the waste of precious capital and time. These players cannot compete at the international stage as they are not serious and shied away from hard work. Their fitness level is not good enough to compete with international players,” he added.
He said the federation should formulate a comprehensive five year plan and invest on fresh blood to reclaim the lost glory in the game of Squash. “Our youth are talented and needed full attention to hone their skills and improve their fitness to take the Squash game forward,” he added.
He advised the federation to arrange junior squash championships like organized by the Malaysia, Japan, China and Hong Kong so the young players get the opportunity to play with international players and learn from their experiences and improve their game.
The Squash legend, who dominated the game for 10 long years, welcomed the Professional Squash Association decision of holding Pakistan Open Tournament (Men’s) carrying the prize money of $50,000 US dollars and Women’s carrying $25,000 US dollars tournaments after 10-year and appreciated the efforts of the PSF in this regard.
He said that the Professional Squash Association had stopped organizing any squash events in Pakistan but the new office-bearers of PSF got succeeded in persuading the association to organize the Pakistan Open Tournament (Men’s and Women) event.
He also urged for appointing professional and committed people in the Pakistan National Squash Academy (PNSA) to work for the promotion of the game, welfare of players and bring forward talented and deserving players to revive Squash in the country. He suggested to Pakistan Squash Federation to fully concentrate of upcoming talent and polish them at grassroots level if they want to achieve the desire result.
