KARACHI, Jan 3: Abbas Khan, a former world ranked player, has urged Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) to seek talent from the downtrodden section of the society and smaller towns to turn the squash fortunes.

"Pakistan remained the dominating force in squash for almost four decades. And the two Khans, Jahangir and Jansher, ruled the court. But the story today is completely different.

The sport has taken a nosedive, although the country has a better infrastructure. We have state-of-the-art glass court with a seating capacity of about six thousand which we did not have when we were the superpowers," he told Dawn.

He said the facilities should have given the game a huge boost and interest in the game in Pakistan. But he said, it did not happen since the focus of raising the infrastructure was on big cities like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar which have well off population.

"The facilities are there but where are the players. One can find the players on the streets not in air-conditioned rooms. Instead, of investing heavily in big cities, the PSF officials should have concentrated their efforts in building courts in smaller towns.

"If we look at the sports history of Pakistan, cricket greats like Wasim Akram and Javed Miandad came up after playing on streets. They excelled because they were hungry for success and were willing to work hard for it. Commitment and devotion is missing in the young generation as far as squash is concerned," he said.

"We had facilities but limited to the armed forces clubs. Only those who had someone in the family in armed forces enjoyed access to squash courts." Abbas said Khan clan, including Jahangir and Janhser were lucky they had someone in the armed forces. Jansher's father was in PAF and Jahangir's father was in Pakistan Navy.

"But they were hungry for triumphs and utilised the facilities. But there were many others who don't get attention they deserve. Players like Mohammad Yasin, Mohammad Salim, Abdul Rahman, Abdul Karim, Mohammad Ali Somji, Sohail Qaider and the Gul family did a great job," he opined.

He said there was no scarcity of coaches and all they needed was incentives from the PSF. "Pay the coaches well. If they deliver fine if not throw them out. Same should be the case with the players. Those willing to work hard should be retained others should be shown the door.

Abbas, who had coached United Arab Emirates (UAE)'s sole Olympic gold medallist Sheikh Ahmed Mohammad Hasher Al Makhtoum in 1980s, said same criteria could be applied to UAE. Sheikh Ahmed won a shooting gold in Athens.

He was squash coach of Sheikh Ahmed who was also UAE champion and later turned to shooting. "When I first started coaching Sheikh Ahmed there were few courts in Dubai and the state has 300 now. How to make optimum use of the facilities is the question."