ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: Two top-ranking national squash players have written to the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Richard Graham requesting him not to appoint national coach Faheem Gul as tournament referee in upcoming international home tournaments.

Aamir Atlas Khan and Farhan Mehboob sent the email on Oct 24.

Pakistan No. 2 Aamir told Dawn on Wednesday: “Yes, we have sent an email to Richard Graham as we fear Faheem may take some unfair decisions against us in the upcoming CNS Open and Pakistan Open.”

CNS Open is scheduled to be held in Karachi from Nov 1 while Pakistan Open will be held here in the second week of November.

Top-ranking players have already refused to train under Faheem, who alleged that the coach was more involved in federation politics rather than training the players.

“We don’t have good relations with the coach any more,” Aamir added.

“The PSA has sent us a reply that they will look into the issue and ask the Pakistan Squash Federation [PSF] to solve the problem as early as possible,” Aamir said.

Pakistan No.1 Farhan Mehboob said: “We have no differences with the PSF, we just have reservations over Faheem’s appointment as tournament referee.”

Meanwhile, a PSF official, when contacted, said: “This is not our issue as tournament refereeing is domain of the World Squash Federation.”

“No player has shown any reservations over Faheem as he is the only world class referee in Asia,” added the official.

Faheem, he said, had been officiating various international squash tournaments throughout the world for past many years.

He asserted: “It looks as if the players have personal grudges against Faheem.”