Poor show at BJO disappoints Pak squash fraternity

KARACHI: Pakistan’s performance at British Junior Open was disappointing, especially in the under-19 category, said Jahanzeb Masood, a former national player and a top executive at at Houston Squash Club in the US, while talking to ‘The News’.

“It is really a sad day for me to witness such a poor performance. Other countries’ squash federations work hard to nurture their talent but we ignore our talented players as happened to Huzaifa Ibrahim.

“Huzaifa was the finalist of US Junior Squash Open but he was not considered by Pakistan Squash Federation for BJO in the under-19 category just because he could not appear in trials,” said Jahanzeb.

He added that Huzaifa should have been exempted from the trials as he could have finished among top four. “Today I ask my legendary squash players why they don’t raise their voice against such poor decisions by PSF which denied participation to the best available talent in BJO,” asked Jahanzeb.

Pakistan’s Harmas Ali was top seed in the under-11 category but he secured 5/6 position while both Huzaifa Shahid and Sohail Adnan also took 5/6 position in the under-13 category. In the under-15 category, Nauman Khan secured 12th position and Shah Zeb finished at 20th spot.

In the under-17 category, Abdullah Nawaz took 7th position while Umair Arif could not qualify for the main round and finished among 69/72 positions. In the under-19 category, Usman Nadeem finished among the 41-48 positions and Anas Ali secured 49/50 position.