The Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Open, held from Dec 2 – Dec 10, 2010, carrying the record prize money of US$32,75,000, ended in a first-ever, all-England final with Nick Matthew beating his fellow-countryman, James Willstrop, in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, to become the world champion.

However, the PSA also came under bitter criticism when 31-year-old defending champion, Amr Shaban from Egypt, who lost the semi-final battle to Nick Matthew, criticised the schedule of the super series on the grounds that it did not provide required rest periods for players. Leading players such as Egyptians Ramy Ashour (seeded second) and Karim Darwish (seeded fourth) as well as fifth seed, Gregory Gaultier, from France had to drop out of the prestigious event due to injuries. Perhaps it was the first occasion that so many top players suffered injuries in the World Open.

It is high time that PSA, an organisation of internationally renowned players, controlling professional squash globally, ensures that its 2011 super series tournament schedule is worked out in a way that the players get proper rest in between matches.

Unfortunately for Pakistan, our two contenders at the PSA World Open put up a dismal performance. Aamir Atlas Khan was beaten in the second round while Farhan Mahboob entered the third after Ramy Ashour retired after the opening game due to the injury he suffered in the first round. Farhan was beaten in the third round of the 64-player draw.

Despite the fact that the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) extended all possible help to Khan and Mahboob, both players failed to win any laurels on the international circuit during 2010. Thanks to PSF funding they competed in more than half a dozen away-tournaments but could not win even US$30,000 to 40,000 per tournament as they suffered defeat in the first or second round of the 16-man draw. Their performance in major tournaments including the World Open and the British Open, were also disappointing and frustrating.

If one looks at the start of the 2010 rankings, Khan was ranked 28 and Mahboob at 30; at the beginning of the year they are at 29 and 33 respectively. This clearly indicates their lack of professional commitment although they both belong to squash families.

As for the rest of our players, the less said, the better. Yasir Butt, former runner-up of 2004 Islamabad World Junior (Under-19) championship, indeed showed immense promise but his progress was halted due to the lack of proper technical guidance and coaching after internationally renowned coach, Rehmat Khan, who moulded his cousin Jahangir Khan into the greatest player of squash the world has ever seen, resigned as national coach of the junior team due to group politics. During his five years tenure as junior coach Pakistan achieved remarkable success at the World Junior Championships, British Junior Open as well as in Asian junior level.

The same was the case with cousins Mansoor Zaman and Shahid Zaman. They were provided all possible help and support by the PSF but neither player could win a single tournament outside the country. Left–handed Mansoor is the son of former British Open champion, Qamar Zaman, who is also the vice-president of the PSF. Both the players also showed lack of inclination for hard training and were left behind while Aamir Khan and Farhan Mahboob emerged as leading players of the country.

It is time the PSF worked out a scientific plan to broaden the base of talented youngsters by taking squash to the educational institutions. Squash needs players of better mental IQ to face the emerging world challenges.

Ideally, the federation should appoint a three-member committee to work out a plan for taking the game to school, college and university level. Let the PSF organise national school championships this year followed by colleges and universities and allocate funds for the events. These tournaments would be a major step forward for the games.

A new and better approach is badly needed to overcome the emerging world challenges and to regain Pakistan’s lost glories earned by the two great Khans — Jahangir and Jansher.