Federation rues Pakistan’s dismal show

Zaman lashes out after world squash championship exit.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) Vice-President Qamar Zaman has blamed the players for the team’s dismal World Men’s Team Squash Championship where Pakistan crashed out in the group stages.

The team suffered an expected loss to Malaysia after overcoming Austria in their opening match. However, Denmark recorded a surprise upset to advance at the expense of Pakistan.

While Zaman admitted the squad was not the strongest, he reckoned that the Pakistan should have at least made it to the second round of the tournament that featured 32 teams.

“It’s the worst result in Pakistan’s squash history,” Zaman told The Express Tribune. “I just can’t get past the fact that Aamir Atlas lost to Denmark’s Kristian Frost Olesen who is not even in the top 50.

“Atlas must have been suffering from an injury otherwise there’s no excuse for losing that match. None of the Pakistan players did their job and I’m going to suggest that the PSF cut the facilities provided to them so that they can understand their responsibility better,” added the former world number two.

However, Zaman said that the team should have been accompanied by an experienced coach who could have utilised the players wisely. He also criticised team manager Irfan Asghar’s decision of playing Waqar Mehboob instead of Nasir Iqbal in the match against Denmark that sealed Pakistan’s fate.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th,  2011.