Overage players allowed in 1st Asian Junior Squash Championship

KARACHI: A number of overage players have been allowed to play the 1st Asian Junior Squash Championship that is to be held in Islamabad from August 4-9.

It has been found that a number of overage players were allowed in violation of medical age tests of players conducted by Pakistan Squash Federation in 2021.

As per the results of the said tests, a copy of which is available with ‘The News’, Usman Nadeem who is top seed in under-19 category in this championship was allowed to play in the said category till July 2023.

Mehmood Mehboob who is 7th seed was allowed to play in the under-19 category till December 2022. Also, Ashar Butt who is also in the main draw of under-19 category of this championship was allowed to play in the under-19 category till July 2023.

Moreover, Anas Ali Shah was also allowed to play in the under-19 category till July 2023 but he is there in the under-19 main round of this championship.

In the under-17 category of this Asian Junior Championship, Azan Khalil is in the main round although he was allowed to play in the said category till July 2022, which means he is overage by more than one year.

Varun Asif has also been allowed to play the under-17 category of the said championship though he was allowed to play in the said category till July 2021.

It is to be noted that PSF has reverted to the old method of players’ age verification while annulling standardised age testing British procedure it adopted in early 2021.

The federation had intimated the participants of Quaid-E-Azam PSA Closed Satellite Squash Championship (held in Islamabad in March this year) that players’ age would be verified during attendance through NADRA Form-B and NADRA Birth Certificate.

“All players must be in possession of their original Form-B/Birth Certificate at the time of attendance,” stated PSF in an email to all of its affiliated units.

It is pertinent to mention here that PSF adopted a standardised age testing British procedure for junior squash players in 2021 and conducted bone tests of 47 junior players at the radiology department of the Army Medical College to categorise players according to their real age.

“Yes the new management of the federation has gone back to old methods of age verification,” said an official of PSF while talking to ‘The News’. The official added that this is the reason a number of cases regarding the age of junior players have surfaced both at international level.

A local coach while talking to ‘The News’ said that the commentators at the British Junior Open earlier this year made fun of a Pakistani player who reached the final of under-13 category.

“The commentators were continuously showing amazement at the age of the Pakistani player. They repeatedly assured viewers that this was the final of under-13 category, not the under-15 category,” said the coach.

Besides, Punjab Squash Association in November last year raised objections over the declared age of a number of junior players from PAF Academy. It was reported by ‘The News’ that PSA wrote a letter to PSF that they found a number of players from the PAF Squash Academy overage for the under-13 category at a junior event in Rawalpindi.