ISLAMABAD: The outstanding performance of Pakistan’s junior squash players, who did the entire nation proud on Sunday by beating India in the final to win the Asian Junior Squash Cham­pionship at Pattaya, Thailand, besides achieving tremendous success in the past couple of years has given the game a definite hope of regaining its lost glory.

The victorious team was due to reach Islamabad on Monday night and the Pakistan Squash Federation as well as many squash lovers were all set to accord it a very warm welcome.

Pakistan squash players ruled the world in the 80s and 90s with stalwars such as Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Qamar Zaman, Gogi Alauddin, Mohibullah Khan and many other champions dominating the scene for decades. However, since the late 1990s the game experienced a sharp decline in the standards and apart from occasional brilliance, no Pakistani player could consistently feature among the top 50 in the world rankings. Even today, Pakistan’s best ranked player is Tayyab Aslam who holds 55th position in the PSA rankings.

But Pakistan juniors, with their fine performances, have surely rekindled the hope of taking the country to the top of the charts in the coming years.

Last year, Pakistan juniors had won the individual junior championship and now due to the brilliant performance of promising Farhan Hashmi and Abbas Zeb in the final managed to outplay India at Pataya to clinch the prestigious title.

A glance at the recent years performance of the junior teams clearly shows that if they are provided with proper training and regulary exposure, they have all the potential to become a force to reckon with on the international circuit.

During the year 2017-18 and the ongoing year, junior players won a total of 58 medals that include 27 gold, 13 silvers and 18 bronze in various international events which indeed is a brilliant show by all counts. During the last couple of years, juniors participated in a number of events that include World Junior, Asian Junior, Doha Junior, Qatar Junior, KL Junior, British Junior, Boeneo Junior, Penanag Junior, US Junior, Scottish Junior, then British Junior and on Sunday they clinched Asian Juniors.

“I am very satisfied with the performance of our junior team. Their performance of last few years has been very good, so I am hopeful that in next few years, we will win some mega events,” said the legendary Qamar Zaman, adding that this victory will be a huge boost for local squash.

He said after defeating several top teams winning Asian Championship is a great achievement of the juniors who have the potential to bring more laurels for the country in future.

Zaman said the incumbent federation has been paying full focus on the development of junior players and this strategy has started paying off.

Pakistan has a talented pool of junior players including Farhan Hashmi, Abbas Zeb. Haris Qasim, Uzair Rasheed, Mohammad Hamza, Noor Zaman, Asadullah, Abdul Malik, Zeeshan Zeb and others who can win many PSA tournaments in the future.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2019