ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s squash team will leave for France on Saturday morning to participate in the Men’s World Team Championship starting later this week.

The championship is scheduled to be held in French city of Marseille from Nov 27 to Dec 3.

The Pakistan squad comprising four players — Farhan Zaman, Asim Khan, Shah Jahan and Ammad Fareed — along with retired Air Commodore Aftab Sadiq Quraishi (manager) and Faheem Gul (coach) will leave early Saturday morning from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

Interestingly, 29-year-old Farhan Mehboob, Pakistan’s top-ranked player and world No.50, could not make it to the above-mentioned event as the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) didn’t consider him for not appearing in the trials.

The PSF opted for world No.58 Farhan Zaman, 25, and three other players who are all below 150 in global rankings.

A former squash player, on condition of anonymity, said had a prominent player like Farhan Mehboob been selected for the event, the chances of Pakistan doing well in Marseille would have increased as he and Farhan Zaman were experienced players.

“My best wishes are with this team. However, one cannot expect any miracle from them [at the World Team Championship] as out of the four, three are below top 150 world ranking players. Therefore [considering this factor] what can you expect from them,” the ex-player said. “If Farhan Mehboob had missed the trials even then he should have been given the chance to represent the country in this mega event.”

Meanwhile, PSF secretary Tahir Sultan while speaking to Dawn defended the selection committee’s decision of overlooking Farhan, saying “the Pakistan No.1 did not participate in the trials for the World Team Championship, and that’s why he is not part of the team”.

“The federation is expecting good results from the selected team, as it was provided the best training facilities and some PSA tournaments ahead of the world championship,” the PSF secretary added.

He further said PSF’s senior vice-president Air Vice Marshal Shahid Akhtar Alvi and vice-president Qamar Zaman would also leave for France in the coming days to attend the annual general meeting of the World Squash Federation (WSF).

Tahir said these PSF officials would present Pakistan’s case at the WSF meeting in order to get at least 12 PSA tournaments for Pakistan during the year 2018.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2017