ISLAMABAD
Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) is relying on miracles rather than hard training to prepare male and female players for the upcoming FMC 17th Asian Individual Championship scheduled to be held from May 1 at Mushaf Ali Mir Squash Complex.
The draws were announced for the prestigious event which will also signal the return of international squash to Pakistan after a long gap. But waiting for more than one hour at the PSF office, no one bothers to provide a copy to this scribe as there was no responsible person at the office from the federation.
When asked about PSF secretary Abdul Wahab Marwat, it was told that he was not in office as he went home. PSF senior vice president Air Vice Marshal Syed Razi Nawab was already in US for the last many days visiting different places while the secretary is also hardly available when journalists try to contact him for seeking information regarding the event.
The Mushaf Ali Mir complex has five courts including the main championship court where the Asian Senior Championship will be held. The federation has gathered around 18 male and six female players, such is the rush that players has to wait for hours to get their turn to practice. There is hardly any need to invite players in such a rush courts as the federation is fully aware of the fact of courts availability. Roshan Khan Complex, although has four courts, yet two of them are dangerous for playing and can cause major injury to any player.
Head coach Jamshed Gul made tall claims about his international experience but in reality, he is not concerned about factual position. The players are not even allowed to visit markets, but the head coach enjoys the weekend with his family in Peshawar. It was not right time to leave the players at their own mercy and the federation should fully focus on training to only those male and female players who have to take part in the event.
Nasir Iqbal, who was suppose to leave for Ireland on 20th, is still in Islamabad and waiting to leave for Karachi to collect his visa from Ireland consulate.
How is it possible for a player to prepare himself for such a prestigious event in such a short time while it is for the first time in his career that Nasir is participating in the $15,000 championship.
The PSF is wasting time on a player who hardly comes to Pakistan. The sources told that Maria had applied for asylum in Canada, so rather than giving No 1 ranking to a foreign based player who hardly played in Pakistan, the federation should have put their money on the likes of Sadia Gul and Zafar sisters as they are producing more than satisfactory results and with little extra effort on them and by providing them international exposure, we can have No 1 female players soon.
Pakistan’s only realistic hope of winning silverware rely on the shoulders of male players and that too on players like Aamir Atlas Khan if he could keep his full fitness. Danish, Farhan Mahboob and Nasir Iqbal can also do wonders in the prestigious event. The federation like past prefers male players when it comes to sending them abroad, training or special incentives are concerned while female players always remained the most neglected species and this is the main reason that Pakistan has failed to produce even a single top class player in female category and no female player achieved any major WSA rankings due to lack of participation.
One more important thing that needs to be mentioned here is that players have already started to fell ill and the main problem is the soar throats. Even top players are complaining about contaminated water, which is the main reason behind soar throats. The federation claims to provide players filtered water, but the actual fact is that nobody bothers to check the purification of water.
Pakistani players’ chances of winning event look grim unless and until the federation chops the number of players while more coaches are required to be hired alongside current coach to get desired results as only one week is left for the grand event.