No squash tournament held in Balochistan in 2016

KARACHI: Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) organised 24 national championships in 2016 for boys and girls, but not a single of them was conducted in Balochistan.

According to the Activity Report for 2016, PSF organised three tournaments carrying prize purse of $15,000: one in Lahore and two in Karachi.

One PSA-15 event was organised for women in Pakistan.

PSF also organised a number of national tournaments throughout the year for senior and junior players carrying different prize purses.

A total of five national senior tournaments for men were held during the year in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Multan.

Also, five national senior tournaments for women were held in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Peshawar.

Moreover, eight national junior tournaments for boys in different age categories (U-11, 13, 15, 17 and 19) were held in Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Multan, Rashidabad, and Karachi.

Besides, three national junior tournaments for girls in age categories of under-15 and under-19 were held in Peshawar and Karachi.

“The main issue is poor law and order situation,” said Balochistan Squash Association (BSA) chairman Sher Ali Kakar, when contacted.

He added that 2016 proved another bad year for squash in Balochistan. “We cannot organise big national squash event here in Balochistan due to volatile law and order situation,” he added.

Sher Ali sent a legal notice to PSF in October last in which he mentioned that the PSF secretary had not visited Balochistan since he took the office. “The behaviour of Secretary PSF clearly shows that he has no interest in Balochistan squash,” stated Sher Ali in the notice.

This scribe tried to contact PSF secretary but got no reply.