Pakistan’s junior players missing from Asian squash rankings

KARACHI: Pakistan’s junior squash players, who used to dominate the Asian rankings in the past, are now languishing in the bottom of the ranking charts.

According to the latest rankings released by the Asian Squash Federation (ASF), Haris Iqbal is the only Pakistani player in the under-19 rankings as he sits at 50th spot. This gloomy situation demands the attention of the Pakistan squash authorities.

Similarly, only six players from Pakistan are ranked by ASF in the under-17 category out of total of 249 spots. Abbas Zeb is ranked 5th, Naveed Rehman is ranked 22nd, Khizar Qasim sits at 68th, Daroshan Khan is at 83rd, Bilal Islam at 93rd, while Yawar Ashraf is ranked 150th.

In the under-15 category too, only six players from Pakistan got rankings out of a total of 282 players. Asadullah Khan is ranked 7th, Haris Qasim 11th, Syed Hasnain 41st, Hasan Raza 46th, Uzair Shaukat 47th, while Moiz Khalid is ranked 96th.

Only three Pakistani players are in the under-13 rankings out of 270, while none of the players from Pakistan could make it into the under-11 rankings.

It is an alarming situation for the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) and efforts are now needed to increase the number of junior players and provide them enough international exposure to improve their game.