Pakistan squash players leave for Kuwait

KARACHI: Pakistan’s team comprising four players left on Wednesday to participate in the 18th Asian Individual Squash championships to be held from May 1-5 at Sabah Int’l Squash Complex, South Surrah, Kuwait.
The team comprises Nasir Iqbal, Farhan Zaman, Tayyab Aslam, and Danish Atlas Khan.
Qamar Zaman is the manager of the team while Nasir’s brother Tahir Iqbal is going as Nasir’s personal coach.
Since there is no national coach right now, the team is to play matches on its own.
According to the draw for men’s event released by Asian Squash Federation (ASF), Nasir is seventh seed; Farhan is 11th seed; Danish is 12th seed; and Tayyab 14th.
All of them have got byes in the first round.
Nasir and Farhan were selected after trials for this championship but Pakistan’s No 1 Farhan Mehboob and the defending champion Amir Atlas declined to appear in the trials.
Both the players demanded exemption from trials: Farhan on the basis of his top national ranking; and Amir on the basis of being the defending champion.
But PSF refused to entertain their demands and sent the names of the selected players to the ASF.
The constitution of the federation allows the president to approve the selection of national teams and officials. But no intervention from the president has been witnessed and the best players of the country have been denied a chance to participate in this championship.