ISLAMABAD, Oct 22: Accusing the national coach of being involved in politics, top-ranked national players Farhan Mehboob and Aamir Atlas Khan have refused to train under Faheem Gul.

“We will not play under Faheem because of his massive involvement in the federation politics,” Pakistan’s No 1 player Farhan said on Wednesday while talking to Dawn. “We get less time to train under Faheem as so many extra players were invited by the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) even at the last training camp.

“The camp that ended in Ramazan, which the PSF had arranged before the World Open, was useless as we were not given priority by the coach; rather new players were given more time and counselling,” added Farhan, ranked 29th in the world.

“We were only given Rs300 per day as training stipend which is far lesser than other games.”

Aamir, Pakistan’s No 2 said: “Faheem lacks professional ability to train us according to international standards. We may never excel under his coaching,” said the world No 34.

“If Faheem has the capability to train us then why are we not among the world’s top ten?” he asked.

When asked as to whom they would prefer as coach, Aamir said: “We will give our suggestions to the PSF but the final decision rests on the president of the federation.

“PSF president is doing a good job but hopefully he will also look into the coaching issue,” said Aamir.

Meanwhile, Faheem, when contacted, strongly rejected the allegations.

“All these allegations levelled against me are absolutely false,” the coach stated. “Recently, I have been awarded the title of best Asian Federation coach and the most qualified one.

“My duty is to select those players for the PSF camps who have good national ranking and potential.

“I have been assigned for a national task to produce and train good players. And I will try my best to help improve the world ranking of Farhan and Aamir as I believe in win-win situation,” Faheem said.

Both the top ranked players, he said, would be among the world’s top ten till the year 2009.

He further said that the PSF works according to some procedures and in a transparent and merit-based system, adding: “You cannot drive the federation on your will.”