Asian Team Championship: Mehboob unhappy with preparations

Feels team hasn’t trained hard enough for such a difficult event

KARACHI: Senior squash player Farhan Mehboob believes the upcoming Asian Team Championship will be Pakistan team’s toughest challenge in recent years as the squad will be without the established trio of Aamir Atlas Khan, Nasir Iqbal and Danish Atlas Khan.

Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), following the trials, has selected Mehboob, his namesake Farhan Zaman, Tayyab Aslam and Muhammad Israr for the continental championship which will be played in Taipei, Taiwan from May 11 to 15.



In Mehboob’s opinion, triumphing at the event will be a herculean task for the national team and a lot would depend on how he and Zaman fare.

“It is a difficult challenge this time around as we are without Aamir, Danish and Nasir and have a young team. We will have to be really careful with our play and strategy,” Mehboob told The Express Tribune. “Since my ranking is lower than Tayyab and Zaman’s, I will probably play the third-ranked match, which means a lot is resting on the other two matches.”



Due to the enormity of the challenge ahead, Mehboob emphasised how important it was to undergo a rigorous training camp, but lamented those who have already left the camp to prepare for the upcoming FMC tournament in Lahore.

“We’re going with a new team so this was the time when all the players should have stayed in the camp instead of prematurely leaving for the FMC event,” explained Mehboob. “All the other teams are currently working on their skills and will come with good strategies, something we should have also done.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2016.

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