Players accost associations over questioning Jamshed

Provincial squash bodies want removal of national coach.

KARACHI: As provincial squash associations questioned the standing of national head coach Jamshed Gul, top players have come out in his support stating that he has done a tremendous job despite limited resources in Pakistan.

The associations believe that the coach has not been up to the standard which was expected of him and should be removed.

However, they seem to have forgotten that it was under Jamshed’s supervision that Pakistan went on to become Asian Team Champions in both the junior and senior category.

“Jamshed has done tremendously well with limited resources and all the players respect his work,” one of the top players, belonging to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), told The Express Tribune.

“Whenever there is a training camp, he tries his best to help players, even working on a one-to-one basis. I’m baffled how provincial associations can question his commitment and standing. They had better  check Pakistan’s record under Jamshed instead of playing dirty politics.”

Another player added that provincial associations of Punjab and Sindh have been raising hue and cry for the last several years, but should look at their own performances about whether they have produced any players who could beat the top players of K-P.

‘We want systematic development of players’

Meanwhile, Punjab Squash Association (PSA) Vice President Rana Tariq said that Jamshed alone cannot train all the top players and he should be assisted by three or four different coaches.

“We only want betterment of the players which is why we want more coaches at the national level who can give more time to players in training camps,” said Tariq. “The PSA feels that there should be a systematic development of players so they can improve with time.”

He further said that they have given a detailed presentation on the improvement of squash to Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) top officials. PSF President Tahir Rafiq Butt has lauded the good work done by their association.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2013.

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