PESHAWAR, July 14 President of NWFP Squash Association (NWFPSA) Col. Ghulam Hussain has unveiled an ambitious plan to unearth new talent and bring back the game’s lost glory to Pakistan.

“We know that this is an ambitious plan but if there is a will there is a way”, Col. Ghulam told Dawn, after presiding over the general body meeting of NWFP Squash Association.

He announced that the association would establish a Squash Academy at Qamar Zaman Squash Complex, Qayyum Sports Stadium, to hunt talent in the province.

He felt confident that introduction of squash at school, college, tehsil, and district level would promote the game in a province that had once produced seven world champions.

Ghulam said the association after holding its general body meeting decided to launch new efforts to promote the game at the gross root level in order to hunt for fresh talent and regain Pakistan’s lost position at the international arena.

He said that efforts would be made to open the existing 80 courts in the province to hundreds of squash-playing young boys and would engage former world champions to coach youngsters.”There is no dearth of talent. We only need to find and groom them”, he remarked.

Besides, he said, the two squash courts at Qamar Zaman Squash Complex and PSB Squash Court would be made part of the proposed Squash Academy that would be exclusively run and operated by the NWFP Squash Association.

He informed that the association had taken practical steps for the promotion of squash in the NWFP and had affiliations in 24 districts of the province.

While giving detail about the squash events to be held in the province, Col. Ghulam said that an inter-tehsil level tournament would be organised this year. After the sport’s events, he said youngsters between ages of 10 and 19 would be selected for further training and coaching at the academy.

He recalled that the association had also the honour of organising an international tournament which carried US$25000 prize money in May, last.

The association, he said, had been able to generate money through its own efforts.”We don’t get a single penny from the Pakistan Sports Board”, he added.

To implement its ambitious plan, NWFP squash chief said the association planned to generate funds through donations.

He claimed that efforts were also being made to involve the district governments to promote the game at the district level and the meeting also constituted a four member committee to coordinate with the district governments.

He said, two tournaments would be organised in October and November this year. The National Junior Squash Tournament under the PSF calendar would be held from Oct 26 to 31, 2003 offering cash prizes of Rs300,000 while the National Senior Squash Tournament carrying purse of Rs500,000 would be held from Nov 10-16, 2003,

Similarly, a tournament would be organised on Aug 14, 2003 in which players from NWFP along with other provinces would take part. He said, along with male competitions, girls would also be given opportunities.

He said that the association was also keen to invite Carla Khan to motivate NWFP girls to play squash. For this purpose, the association has decided to appoint a female coach as per the provincial government’s decision.

He disclosed that a permanent office of the NWFP Squash Association would be established inside Qayyum Sports Complex with all the facilities like fax, telephone etc.

The NWFP Squash Association would also issue annual events calendar from the current year giving details about squash tournaments with date and venues.