Jansher aims to bring back junior squash title

PSF coach preparing 10 players for tournament.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) head coach Jansher Khan said that there is ample time before the World Junior Championship to prepare the players for the tournament. The federation organised a six-week training camp where 10 players, handpicked by Khan, will prepare with former world number two Mohibullah Khan for the championship that gets underway in Belgium in July.

“I wanted to hold the camp four months prior to the championship,” Khan told The Express Tribune. “We can’t just go into a major tournament without preparation and with the same players again and again.

“When I joined, my aim was to bring back the World Junior Championship title and I’m concentrating on that. I’ll personally monitor the players,” said Khan, who will supervise the camp three times a week.

He said Egypt have taken over the squash world because they focused on young talent and initiated development programmes at the grass-root level. Following the same lines, Khan said the programmes will start in Pakistan, a lesson learnt after the country’s defeat to India last month at the Asian Junior Team Championship.

The coach added that before the World Junior Championship, he will examine the players’ performance in the Asian tournament that will be held in April.

“The idea is to prepare a pool of players that can replace the seniors. The PSF hasn’t produced a lot of quality players lately.

“In this camp I’ll make sure that the youngsters understand that its only hard work that can take them ahead,” said Khan, who was the last player to win the Men’s World Junior Championship for Pakistan in 1986.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2011.