Fate of Asian individual squash hangs in the balance

ISLAMABAD: The fate of the Asian Squash Individual Championship, which is scheduled to be held in Pakistan from August 25 this year, still hangs in the balance following the Asian Squash Federation’s (ASF) decision to postpone the 20th Asian Team Championship — scheduled to start from August 17.

Though the ASF has postponed the Team Championship, for the time being, the individual event may be postponed also unless and until there is a marked improvement in the Covid-19 situation in Asia.

India, Iran, Indonesia, and a few other Asian countries are in a grip of Covid-19 third wave and have expressed their inability to participate in any major squash event within the next few months.

“So far the ASF has kept a mum on the fate of Asian individual event. Though it has postponed the Team Championship, there has been no mention of the individual event that is to be held in August also,” one of the officials said.

The ASF in its communique said that keeping in view the current Covid-19 situation in Malaysia and in the region, the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) has requested for the postponement of the 20th Asian Team Championships.

“The ASF’s EXCO understands their decision and appreciates the enthusiasm of SRAM. After the discussion, it was agreed that the dates for the Team Championships would be tentatively scheduled to November 16-20, 2021.”

The PSF, however, is eager to hold the Asian individual event as it would set the tone for more important events to come. Besides the Asian individual event, the country is set to host the CAS International, Pakistan Open and all-important World Squash Congress later this year.

“By the grace of Almighty Allah, the Covid-19 situation in Islamabad is much better. We are adamant to hold all the events as we know we have all the arrangements in place and take care of our guests,” one of the PSF officials said.

He added that it was up to the Asian body to decide on the event. The World Squash Federation has already shifted the World Team Championship from New Zealand to Malaysia. The event is expected to be held close to the Asian Team event in November this year.

When asked as to why the PSF did not place a bid to host the World Team event instead of Malaysia, the official said that the WSF never invited any bids and shifted the venue from New Zealand to Malaysia on its own.

“We were ready to host even the World Team event but no bids were invited and the decision to shift the team event from New Zealand to Malaysia was taken by the WSF on its own.”