Sindh pip Punjab to squash gold

KARACHI: Sindh bagged the gold medal by winning all three matches in the Pakistan Sport Board’s under-17 (boys) inter-provincial squash league at NED University of Engineering and Technology here on Wednesday.
On the final day of the league, held with the collaboration of Sindh Squash Association (SSA), Sindh won 2-0 against Punjab as Talha Alam thrashed M Farhan 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 and Kabeer Alam smashed Bilal Ahmed 11-2, 11-0, 11-1.
In another match, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa beat Baluchistan 2-0 as Zeeahan Zeb beat Azmatyar 11-5, 11-5, 11-4 and Junaid Khan defeated M Hasnain 11-1, 11-1, 11-1.
KP won the silver medal by winning two matches out of three. Balochistan won the bronze medal by winning one match in the league.
Sindh’s Talha Alam was declared the best player of the championship and got Rs15,000 from PSB.
“I am happy with Sindh’s performance,” said SSA secretary Amir Khan. “This event was held after a while and Sindh won it after so many years. Now we hope we will win the senior championship in Islamabad next month,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that eight teams were supposed to participate in this championship but Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and FATA failed to turn up because of school examinations of their players.
It was strange that PSB scheduled this important championship at a time when players had their exams.
Meanwhile, PSB succumbed to the pressure of Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) and failed to organise this event at its own squash courts at National Sports Training and Coaching Centre (NSTCC).
The Sindh Sports Board awarded the hosting of this event to SSA (whose secretary is Amir Khan) but since the PSF supports Tahir Khanzada-led SSA it asked PSB not to allow this to be held on their courts at NSTCC.
Eventually the organisers had to shift this championship to the private courts of NED University. “It is shocking that PSB cannot hold its own national level event on its own courts in its own premises,” said an official of SSA. “The inability of PSB has been exposed in this whole episode,” he said.
When this scribe contacted Director Sindh Sports Akhtar Inayat Bhurgri to seek his comments in this regard, he said: “I was in Islamabad on an official visit and this matter was being handled by the lower staff of SSB. They couldn’t handle it properly I guess. But it’s good that this championship has been successfully held.”