Much has been done on paper, but it needs something more concrete to put squash back on track in the country
Despite all possible incentives and facilities, offered in a silver plate by the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), none of the country’s leading players have been able to win a single PSA ranking tournament worth even $15,000-30,000, outside the country in the past seven years.
It is a sad commentary on the performance of our top squash players, especially after the retirement of eight time World Open record holder Jansher Khan, about seven years ago.
Record holder of ten consecutive British Open titles, Jahangir Khan, who retired in glory after leading Pakistan to victory in the World Championship, in Karachi, in 1993, along with Jansher Khan, ruled the world of squash for about 18 years. But today, the sad fact is that Pakistan does not possess any major title, such as the World Open and the British Open. And it is testament to the decline of our competitive standard at the international level.
Among the country’s leading players the notable are the left-handed Mansoor Zaman and his younger cousin Shahid Zaman. There is also Shamsul Islam Khan, Arshad Iqbal Burki, Majid Khan and Farrukh Zaman, as well as a few others on whom the PSA has spent a considerable amount in the form of coaching and participation in the international tournaments outside Pakistan. Needless to say, none of them came up to our expectations. However, surprisingly, in tournaments held within Pakistan, it has been a totally different story.
In the four international tournaments held in the last one year, in Pakistan, our players have managed to reach the semifinal and the final in these tournaments. This could be due to the fact that most of these events were supervised by Pakistani referees! And this is the exact sentiment that was shared by the competing Canadian, Graham Ryding.
A strong contender for the $25,000 CNS Open, held in Karachi about five months back, Graham suffered a shock defeat in the semifinal against Shahid Zaman that was supervised by Mahboob Khan. After the match he released a press statement in which he said that one cannot beat a referee! Later, Graham did not enter the $25,000, third COAS Open that was won by Shahid Zaman in Islamabad, in February this year.
Another interesting fact is that Shahid has improved his world ranking and is currently ranked 15. This despite the fact that he has not won any international tournament outside the country. Just last month, he suffered a first round defeat against England’s Nick Matthew, in straight games, in the $120,000 Bermuda Open. He remained on the court for only 34 minutes. Mansoor too met the same fate when he lost to Graham Ryding in the first round, 1-3 in 46 minutes.
Currently, both Mansoor and Shahid, who have been in the international circuit for well over six years, are the country’s leading players and they haven’t won any major title for Pakistan. It shows their lack of professional commitment and training but now they seem to have passed the age of improvement. And yet, they are always keen to compete in as many tournaments as possible, especially those held outside Pakistan.
Shamsul Islam Khan has also been in the international circuit for a considerable time and is currently ranked 46. His trophy shelf too is devoid of any international win. Arshad Iqbal Burki, Majid Khan and Farrukh Zaman all are good players but their performance remains wanting; except once when Majid reached the semifinal of the $25,000 German Open last year. These players have been listed for training under the guidance of Jamshed Gul, the director of coaching, in Islamabad.
World renowned coach Rehmat Khan, who moulded his cousin Jahangir Khan into a world beater, has been given additional responsibility of coaching players who had been in the juniors camp. The PSF engaged Rehmat Khan for the coaching of the juniors about four years ago. The hard task master put the youngsters under a rigorous training and coaching regime. The result was that Pakistan regained the World Junior team title after a lapse of over 20 years, while Majid Khan got the individual bronze medal in Chennai, India, in 2002. Pakistan retained the team trophy during last year’s World Junior Championship in Islamabad while Yasir Butt gave an extraordinary performance to enter the individual final where he lost to Egyptian Ramy Ashore.
Highly talented Yasir Butt is currently raked 52 in the world rankings. He along with Amir Atlas, Farhan Mahboob, Basit Ashfqaq, Bilal Zaman, Aquib Hanif, Saeed Hasan and Khayal Mohammad are training under Rehmat Khan in Islamabad. The two separate coaching camps at Islamabad are also part of the preparation by the Pakistan team for the senior World Team Championship to be held in Islamabad, this coming December.
The PSF took the right step when it decided to further polish the players who had been trained by Rehmat during the juniors camps. Rehmat knows the capabilities of each player and knows how to get the best out of them in international events. The second string now needs more international exposure than those who have had enough share but have failed to bring any world honour, home for the past seven years.
At the same time, the PSF should initiate a series of matches between the players of the two camps to assess the progress of the camps. The series should carry a cash prize as well.
Much has been done on paper, but it needs something more concrete to put squash back on track in the country 
