Snubbing Aamir, Farhan will hurt us: Yasir

Players unhopeful of World Team Squash Championship.

KARACHI:

With the country’s top players - Aamir Atlas Khan and Farhan Mehboob - missing the action, Pakistan will be under pressure at the World Team Squash Championship in Paderborn, Germany next month, according to the squad members.

The Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) announced the squad for the event last week with Yasir Butt, Waqar Mehboob, Nasir Iqbal and Hamzah Bokhari named in the team. However, the exclusion of Aamir and Farhan surprised many and according to Yasir, the team will face a tough time.

While Aamir was banned by the PSF for six months in January, Farhan was not fit enough to make it to the squad.

“It’s going to be tough because we do not have big names,” Yasir told The Express Tribune. “It would have been helpful if Aamir was in the squad.

“His ban would have been over by the time the event takes place, so I feel the federation could have chosen him. Farhan has also pulled out so we are left with very little hope.

I have some expectations from Iqbal, but that is about it. The rest depends on the draws we get.”

The PSF named Yasir, who is ranked 105 in the world, to lead the squad in Germany and with the squad comprising of lowly-ranked players, the captain is not hopeful.

According to Yasir, who is training with his personal coach in Lahore, the PSF has also not provided any training facility to the squad.

Meanwhile, echoing his captain’s views, Waqar said that he was part of the World Team Championships in 2009 and it was Aamir and Farhan’s strong performance that won Pakistan fifth spot in the event. This was the team’s best result since 1995 when Pakistan finished as runner-up.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2011.