KARACHI, Aug 29: Pakistan’s squash legend Jahangir Khan said on Wednesday that our players cannot excel in squash without extra-ordinary hard work, devotion, dedication and discipline.

“It will be very difficult to reach the top without focussing on these areas,” he said at a news conference, held at the RK/JK Squash Complex here to unveil details of the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) International Squash Championship’s final round, beginning from Sept 5.

Jahangir said that the “Past players were fully focussed and devoted to their game and achieved their objectives with great efforts in the court,” adding that the element of politics in squash must be removed for the betterment of the game. It was seriously harming the sport.

However, Jahangir said it was encouraging to see that Aamir Atlas of Pakistan won the international event in Islamabad recently. “It was nice to see him beating Ong Beng Hee and Azlan Islander from Malaysia.”

Talented players must maintain hard training and discipline in order to achieve their objectives like the past greats of the sport, he remarked.

Jahangir’s advice to the 17-year-old Aamir Atlas is to remain fully focused and divert all his energies to raise the standard of his game.

“Now Aamir has to prove himself in the CNS contest and if he performs well and remains consistent, it will be good for him as well as for Pakistan squash,” Jahangir, who won the British Open 10 times and the World Open six times, said.

“Nothing is better than performance itself. If our boys did well in the world circuit, it will be a good omen for us,” he added.

The players of other countries, including Australia, Egypt and Britain, are today dominating the world rankings thanks to sheer hard work and proper training.

Responding to a question, Jehangir said none in the top 10 rankings of the Pakistan Squash Association (PSA) are featuring in CNS Squash because they have set their goals for the super series event with a prize of US$75,000 or over.

On the occasion, when TD Commodore Imtiaz Ahmed’s attention was drawn towards Pakistan Navy’s promise to sponsor a Roshan Khan Trophy National Team Squash Championship some years back, he said they (the Navy) will look into it. —APP