Squash: Players ask PSF to postpone international event

Top squash names wary of playing in Karachi due to security concerns.

KARACHI: The top players of Pakistan have officially requested the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) to either postpone the first DHA Karachi International Squash Championship or shift it to Islamabad because of the deteriorating law and order situation in the metropolitan hub.

The $12,000 tournament is scheduled to be played from March 8 to 15 at the Asif Nawaz Squash Complex in Defence Authority Creek Club.

However, the players said their families were not permitting them to appear in the event, which was why they had requested the PSF to find an amicable solution.

Recently forced down to the second place from the top position in Pakistan, Amir Atlas Khan said that he had received emails from fellow players who had asked him to forward their reservations to the federation.

Players including Amir, his brother Danish Atlas, Farhan Mehboob, Nasir Iqbal, Farhan Zaman and Waqas Mehboob have all decided not to come attend in such conditions.

“The International Squash Championship should either be delayed or the venue should be changed to Islamabad,” Amir told The Express Tribune.

“We can’t go to Karachi right now because our families are not permitting us. The players have asked me to be their representative and I have sent an email to the PSF to apprise them about our reservations.”

Meanwhile, Farhan Mehboob said the reports they received about Karachi’s situation from friends and family members were not favourable enough to take the risk and turn up for an event there.

He stressed that since it was an international event and all the top players of the country would take part in it, their security must not be risked.

“I would love to play in Karachi; but maybe some other time,” said Mehboob. “It’s my favourite city and I love playing there but the security situation isn’t suitable for us at all. It’s better to postpone the event for a month or two so that we can all play in it.”

Farhan said he hoped that PSF secretary Abdul Wahab Marwat would take the best decision in the interest of the players’ security.

Marwat will travel to Peshawar to talk to the players personally before taking any concrete decision regarding the future of the championship.

Meanwhile, Sindh Squash Association President Tahir Khanzada said the tournament was still on and he had not received any reservations.

The official said that three international players of Pakistani origin, Kashif Shuja, KaramatUllah and Khawaja Adil Maqbool were coming to play in the event; therefore he was confident that it would go on as per the schedule.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2013.