KARACHI, Nov 18: Former British Open squash finalist and coach, Muhammad Yasin, claimed that the standard of game in the country was on decline and it will take decades to produce yet another world champion.

“The pool of players has shrinked which is evident from the fact that handful of them form nucleus of country’s senior and junior outfits,” Yasin who is here told Dawn on Friday.

Yasin, 66, who had groomed Jansher Khan for three years before he was crowned world champion at Hong Kong in 1987, felt sorry about the decline.

The first round astonishing defeat of country’s top player Shahid Zaman in the just concluded CNS international tournament, had shocked the fraternity of the game, he remarked.

Commenting on Shahid’s performance he said the player had some mental and physical problem and he avoided rigorous training. He (Shahid) had a brief training under my supervision in London besides getting coaching from Maqsood Ahmed and Aftab Javed and parted ways with all of them, he said.

He identified stamina, strokes, length and techniques as foundation for reaching atop the game.

Recalling the golden era, he said five to six Pakistani players including Gogi Alauddin, Hiddy Jehan, Maqsood, Qamar Zaman, besides him, used to make it to the quarterfinals of prestigious competitions which put foreign players under tremendous pressure.

He said politics had reigned supreme since last couple of years which was a key factor in the game’s deterioration and called for proper handling of affairs of the game besides offering his services to Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF).