Pakistan remains behind in number of squash referees

KARACHI: Pakistan lost one more position to stand sixth in Asia with 15 national referees.

The refereeing directorate of Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) failed to produce new referees in 2016, completely ignoring the importance of bringing in new referees commonly known as “pipeline recruitment”.

Hong Kong and Kuwait are top nations with each having 27 national referees.

Iran with 23 referees is at number three. Sri Lanka and South Korea have 18 referees each.

According to the ASF’s list of national referees in 2015, Pakistan was at number five with 15 national referees, while Sri Lanka with 18 referees and Iran with 17 were ahead of Pakistan.

The latest list of ASF discloses that in 2016 Sri Lanka had 18 and Iran 23.

Kuwait had 14 referees in 2015, but at the end of 2016 they had 27 national referees.

Pakistan’s national referees are: Sajjad Ahmed, Asim Amin, Mohammad Hanif, Azher Hussain, Azam Khan, Jahangir Khan, Mehboob Khan, Mohammad Imran Khan, Qaseem Khan, Sajid Khan, Zarak Jahan Khan, Farhan Moeen, Fazal Shah, Fakhar Zaman, and Munawar Zaman.

“This is a serious situation,” said a local coach. “It has already lost its strong ground in junior and senior squash in Asia, and now this loss in refereeing will add to our woes,” he added.