Pakistan fail to defend junior team title

KARACHI: Defending champions Pakistan lost to Malaysia in the final of the 17th Asian Junior Squash Team championships at the National Squash Centre, Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday.
Second seeds Malaysia easily defeated top seeds Pakistan 2-0. Ng Eain Yow beat Tayyab Aslam 6-11, 13-11, 11-4, 3-11, 11-7 in the first match and Darren Chan Ti Lunn thrashed Muhammad Asim Khan 11-8, 12-10, 11-4 in the second to clinch the title.
“Malaysia played extraordinarily well,” said Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) secretary Amir Nawaz. “It was our bad luck. Now we are hoping to make a comeback next time,” he said.
Meanwhile, a local coach termed this defeat shameful. “This shameful defeat has exposed what went wrong with the squash system in the country. Tayyab is the number one player of the country and he was beaten by a junior Malaysian player,” said the coach.
He added that Israr Ahmed had beaten Ng Eain Yow in the semi-finals of boys’ under-15 category in British Junior Open in 2012 and later won the title as well. “But today Israr is nowhere because squash authorities did not support him,” added the coach.
The Malaysian authorities helped Ng Eain Yow improve his game and he beat Israr in the quarter-final of individual category in Asian Youth Games in August 2013. Ng Eain Yow won the title of boys’ under-17 at British Junior Open earlier this year.
“This is an ample proof how Malaysian squash authorities are working to groom their talent. And here in Pakistan everything is deteriorating. The game is in poor state in Pakistan, but the authorities are not concerned. They don’t have any remedy,” added the coach.
He said Malaysia developed squash on the blueprints of the system Pakistan implemented to produce great players. He said Pakistan’s squash authorities abandoned all those methods they had in place. “Malaysia organises a number of events in a year to give exposure to the players. The same approach has been adopted by India,” said the coach.
Indian players won gold medals in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games last year, while Pakistan failed to reach the semi-finals stage in Asian Games despite being the defending champions.
He added that India’s Saurave Ghosal was the finalist in individual category at Asian Games. Pakistan’s performance at Asian Beach Games was also poor.
India’s Malaysian coach Singaraveloo Maniam said in an interview that the Malaysian authorities had followed Pakistan to develop their squash. “Today, around 10 years later, we have produced outstanding players like Nicol David, Beng Hee and Azlan. More than that, we have one girl and one boy in the top 10 of PSA and WISPA rankings. Pakistan has none,” he said.