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| September 20, 2003 | Saturday | Rajab 22, 1424 |
Rahmat Khan hopeful of improved performance
KARACHI, Sept 19: National squash coach Rahmat Khan on Friday promised an improved performance from his four-member squad in next month’s World Men’s Team Championships in Vienna (Austria).
Rahmat, who is supervising Pakistan’s preparations for the World Championships, said that though his team was quite young and experienced, he was hopeful that it will not disappoint in the 24-nation contest. The 2003 World Team Championships will be played from Oct 19 to 25.
Six time champions Pakistan finished a humiliating 11h position in the previous event of the biennial World Championships in the Australian city of Melbourne.
Rahmat was confident that this time his team will give a much better performance but made it clear that no body should expect miracles from his young charges.
The national coach pointed out that Pakistan’s highest-ranked player in the team was world No. 15 Mansoor Zaman in a tournament that will attract all the big guns of the international circuit including world No. 1 Peter Nicol of England.
Apart from Mansoor, world No. 41 Farrukh Zaman is the only other player in the side who is placed in the top 50 international rankings.
Youngsters Majid Khan and Khayal Mohammad are the other two members of the side but both of them are yet to make their mark on the international circuit.
Rahmat pointed out that he has trained these players for just over a month, which was not a sufficient period to prepare a team for a major event like the World Championships.
However, he added that in spite of all the odds his team will give a good fight in the Championships and was hopeful of the boys qualifying for the quarterfinals.
Rahmat was of the view that much will depend on the draws of the championships as his boys might even reach the semifinals if they are not drawn against higher-rated teams like defending world champions Australia, England and Egypt.
Rahmat, who helped Pakistan win the world junior title in the South Indian city of Chennai last December for the first time in 20 years, said that the Pakistan can also regain the world men’s team crown but only after a long-term training programme.—PPI
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