ISLAMABAD - Life previous years, Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) failed to lift squash in 2018 as the country failed to win a single major or even ordinary PSA events titles throughout the year.
The PSF did manage to organise six PSA tournaments in 2018, credit goes to the president of the federation, whose sincere efforts bore fruit for the country in shape of hosting the PSA events as well as international players, who brought back pleasant memories with them. This step ultimately helped in portraying positive and sport-loving image of the country to the entire world. But unfortunately, all the PSA events hosted by Pakistan were won by international players and none of the Pakistani player was able to break into even top 40 of PSA rankings with only Tayyab Aslam is sitting at 55 while only five Pakistani players are in top 100.
In 2018, Pakistani players took part in Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia and they must consider themselves highly fortunate that there was no third and fourth place match, otherwise the things would have been much different as Pakistan shared bronze medal. It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan was defending champions of the Asian Games, as they won gold medal in 2014 Asian Games.
The national team also took part in the Asian Seniors Team Squash Championship, where the country also defending champions, but the men in green lost to Honk Kong in the finals and had to settle for silver medal. Pakistan team also participated in the Asian Juniors Team Squash Championship as well as Commonwealth Games but couldn’t impress with their performance while in World Junior Team event, Pakistani players failed to progress beyond quarterfinals.
Tahir Jamil Khanzada has been Pakistan director referees for last several years, but since 2010 onwards, not a single referees’ course was conducted in the country. In 2014, the ASF Level-II coaching course was conducted by Punjab Squash Association (PSA) under well-reputed referee and international coach Fahim Gul and Chris Clarke, but no WSF coaching course was conducted in the country since the WSF started the courses.
The PSF didn’t conduct a single grassroots level programme despite having Pakistan National Squash Academy (PNSA) functional for last three years and a director is sitting at the helm of affairs. None of Pakistani players is even in PSA top 30 since 2009, when Aamir Atlas and Farhan Mehboob were occupying 15th and 16th spots. Not a single qualified coach is available in Pakistan with exception of Fahim Gul and Jamshed Gul, who are ASF Level-III coaches.
The PSF abolished head coach post in 2014 and sacked well-reputed international coach Jamshed Gul Khan and then it hired Fahim Gul Khan as coach but not on permanent basis and he too was shown the door in 2018 sighting poor results. But the matter of the fact was that Fahim did his job very well and sincerely trained Pakistani players for the mega events, but the players couldn’t perform up to the mark due to lack of complete fitness and proper attention, due to which the country, despite spending a huge amount of money on the players, couldn’t even win a single major title.
The federation then hired England-based former coach Muhammad Yasin, who can’t even stand in the court due to his age, while Asif Khan, Fazal Sher and other unknown coaches were hired to assist Yasin. Ever since Yasin and company have taken over the helm of affairs, Pakistani players performances have gone from bad to worst.
The PSF also never bothered to pay heed on a highly sensitive issue of inviting top class referees for PSA events and banked on same old local referees, who even don’t know the ABC of refereeing and only one international referee Muhammad Fayyaz is always invited to supervise the matches in Pakistan as he enjoys close relations with Tahir Khanzada.
The local and international players time and again raised too many questions on his and other local referees’ pathetic refereeing, but no heed was paid. These referees helped the players of their liking to win the events in Pakistan through their dubious and biased refereeing, but when these players take part in the PSA or other international events abroad, their performances are no secret, as they mostly fail to pass even the first rounds of low-profile tournaments.
The federation always hides actual facts from the PSF President and presents him other side of the picture. Winning the non-ranking tournaments in unknown places like Qatar and Jordan won’t help the federation nor the country’s cause. It is a bitter and harsh reality that none of the Pakistani player was able to win a major title after Jansher Khan last did that in 1996, when he last clinched the World Open title. Since then there is a long gap that no Pakistani player could win a single major title while winning the World Open is a far cry for Pakistani players.
The liking-disliking policy has badly hampered Pakistan’s chances of doing well at international tournaments. Luckily, two of the most decorated players of recent times Atlas brothers - Aamir and Danish - finally came back from USA after turning their back on Pakistan due to the federation’s biased and step-motherly treatment with them. While high-flying Farhan Mehboob is also facing biased treatment at the hands of the federation.
Nasir Iqbal, who was Pakistan number one and world number 35 when he was banned by WADA for using banned substances in 2016 after he won the South Asian Games individual gold, has been running from post to pillar to get justice, but the federation don’t have time to fight his case. There was huge investment on Nasir and that too from tax-payers pocket. Had the PSF fought Nasir’s case seriously and paid heed, he would never have to suffer such treatment. It was Indian-lobby behind Nasir’s highly dubious ban, but the PSF never bothered to work for national cause.
It was hoped that after the induction of Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, who assumed charge as PAF Chief and President PSF, the things would change, as he had played squash and enjoyed huge reputation amongst his peers, but Pakistan squash failed to regain its lost glory.
Now only his timely action can revive squash in Pakistan. Hardly handful of players have been applying their trade since last decade or so and the country badly needs fresh blood while the senior players need to be serious with their game and fitness to brighten their chance of winning international titles for the country. Top referees are required to uplift the standard of refereeing and to ensure equal rights to all. There is an urgent need to appoint a well-reputed national squash coach, who must be given full authority to change the fortunes of Pakistan squash.
Female squash is almost dead in Pakistan, so until and unless the federation takes steps on war-footings, Pakistani squash is bound to suffer more and more. Without hiring right man for the right job won’t end the woes of players in general and federation in particular. It is hoped that the PSF will finally woke up from deep slump and address the root causes in the best interest of squash and country.
TENNIS
After a long gap, Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) managed to get three ITF Futures tennis events for men’s and two for juniors for Pakistan, while around nine national tournaments were also conducted. Besides, Pakistani players are taking part in Asian Games and most memorable victory by the Pakistani team in the Davis Cup against mighty South Koreans, while Pakistan lost to Uzbekistan in the Group-I final. Aqeel Khan once again remained untouchable and number one player with just one defeat in the final at the hands of Muhammad Abid in Lahore. He continued to carry forward the burden of national hopes alongside Aisam-ul-Haq, as the aging heroes never let down themselves and the country and produced out of skin performances throughout the year.
Salim Saifullah Khan once again re-elected as PTF President for another four-year tenure, while Saifullah’s biggest achievement in 2018 was the laying down of state-of-the-art synthetic courts with the help of International Tennis Federation (ITF), while he used all his good offices to the best of his abilities to ensure maximum ITF Futures allocation to Pakistan while a record number of international participation was witnessed for the first time in the history of Pakistan tennis.
But the federation once again failed to pay heed towards producing fresh blood and women tennis is almost dying its natural death. Pakistan ladies champion Ushna Suhail once again proved her authority in the ladies circuit and won almost all the tournaments she had participated in 2018. With her title victory in the recently-concluded Hassan Tariq Rahim (HTR) Master Tennis Cup along with Aqeel Khan, who won the men’s singles and doubles finals in this event, Ushna completed hat-trick of her titles to finish the year in great style.
The biggest stage of tennis was set at Islamabad Tennis Complex, where 4th edition of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed International Tournament was conducted with a massive prize money of $15,000, while another Rs 700,000 were spent on Benazir Bhutto National Tournament and after remaining absent for first three years, finally Bilawal Bhutto woke up and visited the ITC and spent a few minutes there.
It will be highly injustice if the name of Senator Taj Hadier isn’t mentioned here as he always remained instrumental in conducting every edition of the BB Shaheed tennis tournaments smoothly and in a trend-setting manner in the honour of her slain leader and he was fully supported by ITC Managing Director Fazle Subhan. Without both the gentlemen, such a successful tournament could never take place and all previous records of international participation were broken this year with the arrival of 49 foreign players of 28 countries. Taj Haider and Bilawal Bhutto promised to carry forward the tournaments in the name of Benazir and that too in Islamabad and next time with more prize money and best facilities.
TENPIN
Once again Pakistan Tenpin Bowling Federation (PTBF) remained highly instrumental in conducting not only a record number of national tournaments, but also sending players aboard to feature in international tournaments, where they held aloft Pakistani flag.
Ijaz-ur-Rehman remained the best player of the year, as the veteran not only won national titles for the third time, but also won a number of major tournaments held in Pakistan. While youngsters Sardar Ahmer Abbas Saldera, Ali Surya, Afzal Akhtar, Saqaib and Khawaja Ahmed Mustaqim, who also accompanied Ijaz during the Cubica World AMF as manager and helped the federation organise a number of events, also played superbly and played out their hearts to win honors at national levels.
Pakistani players did exceptionally well in Dubai and Thailand events and all was done without a qualified coach, which the federation has been demanding for the last several years. Pakistan Sports Board and IPC Ministry are keeping mum on this issue of grave importance and they never bothered to pay heed towards genuine demand of Pakistani bowlers. Although the PSB executive committee passed resolution of starting bowling alley in the PSB premises, yet nothing on ground was done and the federation kept on running from post to pillar to get the land from the PSB, where they could construct state-of-the-art alley, where international events can be conducted.
Badminton
Pakistan badminton also failed to not only produce better results at international level but also couldn’t find a handful number of genuine talent, who may represent the country at international level and earn laurels for it. Another main reason behind this is parallel bodies, which not only inflicted huge damages on badminton federation but also on other federations. Although the PSB this year cleared the issue of badminton federation but they couldn’t produce satisfactory results with only exception of individual female player Mahoor Shahzad.
Mahoor remained in the headline throughout the year, as she won the National Badminton Championship for the second time in January 2018, represented Pakistan in the Commonwealth Games 2018 in April 2018 in Australia, won the Ranking Badminton Championship held in Islamabad in April 2018, got the honour of being the only Pakistani badminton player to get selected in the Asian Olympic Project 2020.
Mahoor also won the Ranking Badminton Championship held in Quetta in July 2018, represented Pakistan in the Asian Games 2018, she became the first Pakistani female badminton player to achieve a ranking of top 200 in the world 8 and her current world ranking is 192. She also participated in the international tournaments held in Egypt, Bahrain, Dubai and Nepal and she is keen and committed to make her 2019 more remarkable and full of achievements for herself as well as for her country.
WRESTLING
Pakistan wrestlers also earned good name for the country in different international events. Wrestler Inam Butt gave Pakistan its lone gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia by outclassing his opponent Melvin Bibo of Nigeria in the final of the 86kg weight category. Nooh Dastagir Butt and Talha Talib won the bronze medals in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In karate, Quetta’s Nargis won the bronze medal in the Asian Games 2018.