Amir Atlas win over world no.1 Gregory Gaultier of France at the Qatar Open was the only major achievement for Pakistan Squash in 2009. -Photo courtesy Squashsite.co.uk

ISLAMABAD At a time when both top ranking national squash players are struggling to find any sort of form, the Pakistan Squash Federation in its 37th Annual General Meeting (AGM) has made it clear that the sponsorship for international events in the future will purely be performance-based.

Farhan Mehboob and Aamir Atlas Khan could not make a mark on the international squash spectrum last year and ultimately lost their static international ranking.

Farhan is currently ranked at No.31 while Aamir is lingering at No. 19 on the PSA World rankings.

Both the top players could not clear even the qualifying rounds of the tournaments during their nine international stints mainly due to lack of interest demonstrated by the players at home who even at times refused to train under national coach Faheem Gul.

The AGM of the federation which was held here at the Air Headquarters was headed by its president Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman in which performance of the PSF was discussed and all the facets pertaining to the game of squash were analysed in detail.

“The Chief of Air Staff Rao Qamar Suleman has made it clear that we [PSF] own the players but the sponsorship for international tournaments would only be possible after achieving relevant targets,” Asim Suleman, senior vice president of the federation told Dawn.

Answering a question, the Suleman added “We have been allotted one-star ranking events by the Professional Squash Association which will be held every month at different venues across the country.”

Pakistan could not hold international sports event since last year's terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team which resulted in cancellation of several tournaments.

He said “This is a success of sorts as we have been continuously pursuing them [PSA] to allot us a ranking tournament. This one-star ranking event will help our junior players in getting maximum points.”

When reminded about a claim made by the PSF to produce a world class player by 2011, he asserted “We will produce a world class player by 2011 and are working on junior players.”

Meanwhile, in a brief press release issued by the Pakistan Air Force, the AGM expressed his concerns on the discipline of players and it was decided that in future any breach would not be tolerated.

In recognition of the valuable contributions made towards promoting the game of squash during the year 2009, the Sindh Squash Association (SSA) was declared winner of the Pride of Performance.

The award was presented to SSA secretary Tahir Khanzada.