ISLAMABAD - Setting aside the Quetta’s Civil Judge orders of not holding the 44th annual general council meeting, Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) conducted the meeting at Air Headquarters on Wednesday under the chair of its president Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman.

It is pertinent to mention here that former president Baluchistan Squash Association (BSA) Sher Khan Kakar had filed a petition against the AGM and the court had issued stay orders, barring the federation from hosting the meeting. Besides Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, Qamar Zaman, Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, representatives of provincial squash associations and affiliated units also attended the meeting.

One of the major decisions taken during the AGM was showing door to PSF senior vice president Air Vice Marshal (R) Syed Razi Nawab after a series of flopped performances while Air Vice Marshal Shahid Akhtar Alvi was elected as new senior vice president.

Besides this, instead of hiring a permanent national coach, which Pakistan squash team badly needs, former squash greats managed to get blue-eyed Faheem Gul Khan appointed as national coach. Faheem was a super flop in previous tenures with the national team and mainly responsible for infightings among the players. With such an ordinary and flopped, it is too tough for the federation to get the best results at international level.

The reliable sources present during the meeting, on condition of anonymity, told The Nation that Air Vice Marshal (R) Razi Nawab and Jahangir Khan tried their best to get Rehmat Khan appointed as national head coach, who is a super flop coach in USA for the last several years, almost living in exile, as not a single player on his credit. It was high time when the PSF chief should have reprimanded all those, who had inflicted huge damages on national cause, who were responsible for PSA ban on hosting international events in Pakistan. There was no need to hire an ordinary coach like Faheem.

At a time when Pakistan squash has been facing tough times, the PSF should have appointed such people, who enjoy cordial relations worldwide and could play role in PSA and WSF to bridge gap and help Pakistan squash in time of needs. Faheem Gul is a controversial figure, as he was the one who inflicted bans on Aamir Atlas, Farhan Mehboob, Yasir Butt and others. Jansher Khan was very upset with the federation and was not attending tournaments since long, but when they needed him the most, they managed to lure him for the all-important AGM, as they wanted desired results and get their recommendations approved in which they remain successful.

Addressing the AGM, Aman thanked them for their participation and offered whole-hearted support of PAF and PSF for the promotion of squash. Showing his satisfaction over revival of international squash in Pakistan, he urged the provincial squash associations to make sincere efforts to expand the game.

He urged the players to focus on the game and further improve their physical and mental strength, besides assuring financial and administrative support by PAF. He also urged the member associations to generate further resources to meet the challenging task in a befitting manner. He directed the member associations to promote squash at grassroots level through district and provincial leagues and also introduce the game at school/college level to explore new talent. He agreed that the PSF would continue to sponsor men and women players in international team events, for which their selection would be done through transparent trials and performances. Moreover, performance-based sponsorship would also be given to the players in PSA events.

The performance evaluation of provincial association for the year 2016 was also carried out by the general council. The KP Squash Association (KPSA) was awarded with ‘Pride of Performance Award’ whereas Punjab Squash Association stood runners-up. Sohail Aman presented trophies to the representatives of provincial associations.