Karachi: In a surprising move, the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) has decided to go into the prestigious World Team Championship with a lineup of rookies, overlooking top players in Aamir Atlas Khan and Farhan Mehboob.
Khan is ranked at No 28th while Farhan Mehboob is ranked at No 36 on the international circuit, however, the PSF has opted for players who are all above the top 100 in world rankings, making Pakistan an unseeded side in the event.
Yasir Butt (105), Waqar Mehboob (138), Nasir Iqbal (161) and Hamzah Bokhari (199) will make up the Pakistan side in the event and are most likely to face squash powerhouses Egypt, Australia, England or France in the first round.
The federation has a simple answer for this: Farhan failed in the trials while Aamir is serving a six-month ban.
According to PPI, however, the ground realities are that Farhan was given only a day’s notice to reach Islamabad and participate in the trials.
“I was exhausted and I was not in the condition to play competitive squash right after I came back after featuring in a tournament in Kuwait. The federation asked me to come and play in trials even though I tried to convince them that I needed a rest. Yasir Butt won the match against me. But had they given me at least a five-day notice, then, everyone knows Yasir is a mismatch for me,” Farhan said.
In the previous edition of World Team Championship Pakistan defeated South Africa 2/1 in the play-off for fifth place producing their best result since finishing as runners-up in 1995.
It was Aamir Atlas Khan, who took the biggest South African scalp of Stephen Coppinger to lead Pakistan to fifth position. Yasir Butt won the other match. Aamir Atlas Khan is serving a six-month ban, which completes on 15th July. However, the last date of submission of team-member names is 25th July.
Judging by recent performances, Khan is in great form as he displayed recently in Jena International Squash Championship held in Kuwait, where he reached the final of the tournament.
According to a source in the PSF, the decision to go without top players in the team event would only harm the confidence of the junior players.
“It is also not good for them to feature in a top-class senior squash event before their time,” he said.
