Squash: I’m never playing in Pakistan again, says Waqar

Squash player irked by federation’s attitude, to leave for the US.

KARACHI: Waqar Mehboob is adamant on leaving the country to feature in US events, citing lack of opportunities provided by the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF).

However, Waqar will continue to represent Pakistan but lamented that the PSF has failed to send players for any Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournament on its expenditure despite a recent promise and forced him to look for an alternative.

“My career is going nowhere because the PSF isn’t helping the players improve their ranking,” Waqar told The Express Tribune. “I’m now going to play in the US but will continue to represent Pakistan. The Pyramid Squash Club in New York has offered me to play for them in local leagues. They’ll also help me financially with the PSA events and that’s an offer I can’t turn down because I need to focus on my career which is going nowhere in Pakistan.”

Waqar was one of three players – Aamir Atlas Khan and Yasir Butt the other two – who were banned by the PSF for underperforming at the world championship. That point on, Waqar’s ranking has continued to slump and he currently lies at the 172nd place — well below his career-best of 67 in 2009. The player, though, admitted that it was a ‘tough’ step to take but a daily allowance of Rs100, given by the PSF during training camps, was simply not enough.

“This amount is laughable to say the least. I’ll make $700 to $800 in the US daily.”

It has been learnt that other players are also not satisfied with the PSF’s attitude after getting no updates on their participation in PSA tournaments, prompting them to skip the training camp in Islamabad in protest. Waqar’ father Mehboob Khan, who is a PSF professional coach, said that he has been looking after his three sons – Farhan, Waqar and Waqas – for the last three years since the PSF had proved to be insufficient.

“This isn’t easy because they are playing at an international level. The federation should start fulfilling its promises otherwise I fear more players will leave to play abroad.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2012.