Another young star

In most fields in Pakistan, it is often to our youngest that we turn to for some hope, happiness and inspiration. Sports is no exception in this regard. While the senior pros in the cricket team are reeling from yet another clean sweep, this time in a test series at the hands of South Africa, 12-year-old Sohail Adnan made his country proud by clinching the Under-13 title at the British Junior Open Squash Championship 2025. In doing so, he became the first Pakistani to win gold at the tournament in 18 years. Adnan defeated his opponent, Egypt’s top-seeded player Moiz Tamir Al-Mughazi 3-2, in a nail-biting final match which harkened back to the country’s golden era in squash in the 1980s and 1990s. This victory makes it a hat-trick of titles for young Adnan as he also won the US and Scottish Junior Opens in December last year. Squash seems to be undergoing somewhat of a revival in Pakistan, particularly at the youth level. In June of last year, 11-year-old Mahnoor Ali won the gold medal in the under-13 category of the PBA 20th Penang Malaysian Junior Open 2024. This is just one of her 15 medals and five international titles including the gold medal in the Australian Junior Open 2024, a bronze medal in the under-13 category at the 7th Borneo Junior Open 2023 and the under-11 title at the Penang (Malaysian) Open Squash Championship in 2022.

However, this does not mean that all is well on Pakistan’s squash front. Just last month, Pakistan registered a dismal 13th-place finish at the World Team Squash Championship despite fielding the best talent available. There clearly seems to be a challenge when it comes to translating success at the youth level into the professional game. Pakistan is a country of over 240 million people that has only seen top-level success in Cricket during the lifetimes of most Pakistanis around today. Though hockey and squash were once dominated by Pakistan, the young people who make up the majority of this nation came too late for these glory days. Even now, most of the country’s sports fans are likely unaware of Adnan and Mahnoor’s considerable achievements or even the defeat in the team squash tournament. Squash, like most sports in Pakistan, languishes in the shadow of cricket. The only notable exception appears to be Arshad Nadeem, who has become a national hero for his Olympic Gold Medal in the javelin throw. But even he was so poorly funded at one point that he reportedly struggled to acquire a new javelin.

So long as this dynamic continues, Pakistan will remain a second-tier sporting nation where tremendous young talent goes to waste. There is an urgent need to improve the facilities, equipment and level of training available to young Pakistani athletes so that they can continue to win at the professional level. Cricket was and still is the cash cow of our sports scene but, after numerous disappointments on the pitch, Pakistani sports fans are hungry for other heroes to cheer for.