Pakistan not considering pulling out of World Junior Team Squash

KARACHI: Pakistan is not considering pulling out of WSF Men’s World Junior Team Squash Championship that is to be held in Queensland, Australia, from July 25-30.

“We hope that the situation will get better by that time so we are not considering pulling out,” said Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) official Aftab Ahmed Qureshi while talking to ‘The News’. “And it will be ok if it gets delayed,” he added.

He said there would be enough time to prepare players for this big event. It is to be noted that recently Malaysia announced that they would not participate in the world championship because of coronavirus pandemic.

Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia director S Maniam reportedly said that pulling out was in the best interests of the players. Pakistani officials are hoping for a better outcome despite lock-down of many parts of the country.

“We will need six to eight weeks to train our players for this event so if we get May and June we will make our players ready for the competition,” said Aftab. It is pertinent to mention here that five-time champions Pakistan will make their 21st appearance in the championship, which will immediately follow the Men’s & Women’s WSF World Junior Individual Championships that will take place at Carrara National Squash Centre in Gold Coast, Australia.

Pakistan, the winners of the 2016 edition, are among the 23 nations participating in the event. Egypt are the defending champions. The 23 nations are Australia, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong China, India, Ireland, Kuwait, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, USA and Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Squash Australia has announced that they will continue to implement a number of measures to minimise the potential risk of the coronavirus at the World Junior Championships.