ISLAMABAD - The early defeats of both Pakistani players Nasir Iqbal and Farhan Zaman in the Allam British Open Squash Championship 2015 proved all the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) tall claims wrong.
But the arrogant PSF secretary is not ready to accept biter and harsh reality and still advocates the federation. Although Nasir did manage to win the first qualifier in the British Open, but Farhan failed at the very first hurdle, as he lost in the first qualifier. Nasir and Farhan Zaman were aiming high and taking giant strides in the PSA rankings, when they were under the command of head coach Jamshed Gul Khan, but for the last six months after the abolishment of head coach post to save a few bucks and appointment of borrowed Punjab Squash Association (PSA) coach Faheem Gul Khan, not only these two players but also other ones also not producing satisfactory results which is the thing really need to ponder over.
Faheem had made tall claims regarding his coaching skills, but the reality is quite different. Ever since Faheem was handed over the responsibility of coaching juniors, Pakistan lost the Asian Junior Team Championship, despite fielding a very competitive team in shape of Tayyab Aslam and Ali Bokhari, then Pakistan lost the Asian Senior Individual title at semifinal stage as Nasir and Farhan Zaman played out of their skins, but it had nothing to do with Super Mario coach Faheem Gul’s extraordinary coaching but it was purely class shown by both the youngsters.
Instead of accepting responsibility and tendering resign, both secretary Amir Nawaz and senior vice president Razi Nawab are clinging to their posts. Last time, the Asian Games defeat burden became the reason of Jamshed’s sacking, but now after series of worst results, no head rolls. Until the current secretary and senior vice president are not replaced, there is every possibility, Pakistan will continue suffering more. How is it possible for the players to perform without a coach?
A person, who was a big flop as national head coach and under his last six months coaching, Pakistani players failed to win a single major PSA tournament with the only exception of so-called home ground $15,000 titles won by Nasir Iqbal, as mentioned time and again by this scribe that it makes no sense of winning tournaments at home soil with the help of referees. The thing that matters the most is winning events abroad against top players.
The arrogant secretary is satisfied with qualifying round exit of players. What a downfall! An event which was dominated by Pakistan for almost 47 years starting from way back 1950s to 1997, when Jamshed lost the final of British Open, after that none of the Pakistani players had ever played in the final of World Open or British Open, but no heed was paid on that. The federation’s self-styled policies have been destroying Pakistan squash. Without a permanent coach, ordinary results are hard to buy, thinking about winning major titles is not more than day dreaming.
It was expected that new PSF president Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman would completely overhaul the federation as the country couldn’t afford any further slips. The secretary’s personal liking and disliking had already deprived Pakistan of three Asian level titles and remaining two Asian Junior and Asian Senior team championship are also at stake. If things continue in the same manner, only Pakistan squash and its player will be the losers.