ISLAMABAD - Living Pakistan legend Jahangir Khan has said that he is ready to help the country in regaining lost squash glory, if given free hand and full authority to perform his duty honestly.
Talking to The Nation, Jahangit, former undisputed world squash champion, said: “It hurts watching Pakistan going down in world of squash and players and teams from India, Kuwait and other parts, who were completely strangers in this world of squash, have been dominating the game.”
When asked about importance of having a full time coach, Jahangir replied: “No pupil can learn without a teacher, if one opens school, he has to hire a teacher. Same is the case with squash, as no one can deny the importance of a coach, but he should be hired purely based on his track record, performances. It must be the coach who dictates players not the players dictate the terms.”
About current Pakistani players lot, Jahangir said: “All Pakistani players have now been playing in the circuit for the last 8 to 10 years. The players, who were playing alongside them at junior levels, are now world champions, but our players have missed the golden time when they could have broken into elite group of players, but now that golden time has gone. Same old faces playing with past reputations but the past records mean nothing in squash. The federation should have worked on basics long time back, had it was taken seriously and serious efforts were made to know the reasons behind Pakistan failure, things could have been far different.”
He said no one bothered to look into biter and harsh reality. “One has to accept fair criticism, if even I am doing something wrong, people must inform me, so that I may rectify my mistakes. No one is perfect, everybody commits mistakes, but there is always solution to problems. I have started academy in Karachi about a month back and working and giving ample time without any personal lust. I could have earn in millions, had I preferred to do same thing abroad, but I am not taking any personal advantage or favours, rather just working for the personal satisfaction and for my believed country which gave me everything including international fame.”
“There are a lot of sincere people, who are very dishearten with the squash decline in Pakistan and they have joined hands with me for the noble cause of reviving squash at grassroots level. I am facing lot of difficulties in running the affairs of the academy, but I will not stop from passing on my knowledge and experience,” he added.
“Now the time has changed. In our times, Pakistan's eight players had been playing in top 10, so we used to select the team without any trials and easily won the titles on offer. Now fair trials policy must be followed, or players should be told to improve their PSA rankings to force their way automatically in the squad. Coach is as important as a player, but he should be hired according to his caliber and the federation must give him ample time to produce best results. Without proper training and camps, no one can think about ordinary results, winning major titles will be not more than day dreaming,” the squash legend added.
He said: “Playing at home courts in front of home crowd and winning titles is a different thing as compare to playing at international events. We have different class as compare to foreign players as our players need hard and sophisticated modern technique training and there is an urgent need of completely overhauling the entire set up and those people should be inducted who have squash knowledge and passion to streamline things. Only merit should prevail in all departments.
“I strongly advocate the need of establishing academies in all the major cities of the country, where high-profile well-reputed coaches should be hired and given free hand to run the affairs. If such thing happened, I assure Pakistan squash will start touching the sky and we will succeed in regaining past squash glory,” he added.
“I am ready to serve just like I am doing in Karachi in the academy with the help of a few squash lovers. We are not minting money but promoting squash at grassroots level. I am willing to serve the country with only condition of no political pressure or interference and complete authority and complete backing, and if I am guarantee this, I will change the fortune of Pakistan squash,” Jahangir concluded.