National camp on track sans Aamir, Mehboob

Pakistan senior squash duo disgruntled over non-payment of prize money.

KARACHI: While senior squash players Aamir Atlas and Farhan Mehboob remain embroiled in a tussle with the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), and opting to stay away from the national camp which commenced on June 19 in Islamabad, Nasir Iqbal and Farhan Zaman have been entrusted to carry the mantle for Pakistan in Australia.

Mehboob, who cited monetary reasons as the main point of contention with the PSF, stated that he had no issues with participating in the camp but the federation first needed to clear the dues owed to him for winning three tournaments in recent months.

“The PSF’s policy is to pay cash prizes to the winners of the national tournaments but they haven’t paid me for three events, whereas Maria Toorpakai and others were given the incentive. I am currently number one in the country and this is no way to treat your best player,” argued Mehboob.



Meanwhile, Nasir and Zaman, both of whom have been rewarded for their loyalty with a ticket to appear in two Professional Squash Association events in July in Australia, disagree with the disgruntled duo and ‘personally’ do not find any reason to boycott the PSF camp.

“We can’t overlook the instructions of the PSF or stand against them because they have been supporting us to play in PSA events,” Zaman told The Express Tribune. “Both Nasir and I are participating in the training camp to train with juniors under the guidance of Fahim Gul.

“I can’t speak much on behalf of Aamir or Farhan but as far as we’re concerned, we’ve got the full support of the PSF.”

The Peshawar-based player further added the decision to become part of the camp is to focus on regaining his ranking and get into the top 50 quickly.

“After playing in Australia, we’ll come back and play one tournament in Pakistan. After that, we’ll head to the US and will stay there for almost three months. This will allow us to play in a couple of PSA competitions before the World Open and help boost our rankings,” he added.

In addition to the seniors, the junior players are also preparing for their World Individual Junior Championship.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st,  2015.

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