Deadlock between players, federation postpones trials

Seniors agree to undergo selection process for world squash event.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) has postponed trials to select a four-member team for the upcoming World Team Championship till May 18 in order to provide recovery time to the players.

There was a deadlock between senior players – Aamir Atlas Khan and Farhan Mehboob – and the PSF as the duo wanted exemption from the trials, while the federation’s executive committee made it mandatory for everyone to go through the selection process.

Aamir was crowned the Asian champion after recovering from an injury, while Farhan wanted to be exempted as well.

“The trials will now be held on May 19 or 20 so that players can recover from fatigue,” PSF Secretary Abdul Wahab Marwat told The Express Tribune. “It’s obvious that players have gotten tired because they were involved in a gruelling month-long training camp in Abbottabad and then appeared in the Asian Individual Championship that took its toll.”

He stressed that everyone needed to respect the PSF’s decision and appear in the selection process.

Players agree

It has been learnt that the trio of Aamir, Farhan and Nasir Iqbal, who wanted exemption as well, has agreed to participate in the trails after a lengthy meeting with PSF Senior Vice-President Air Vice Marshal Razi Nawab.

“We will appear in the trials just because of Razi otherwise we had decided to opt out of the event,” one of the players said. “It’s sad that Razi, Wahab and national coach Jamshed Gul all wanted to give us exemption but the executive committee was against it. All of this to give their blue-eyed boys a chance.”

According to reports, PSF already sought an extension to finalise their squad for the world championship. The initial date for finalising of squads set by the World Squash Federation (WSF) was May 9. An extension to Pakistan was already given with May 18 as the deadline. However, with the trials now due to be held on May 19 or later, it is highly unlikely that the selection process will take place at all.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2013.