Pakistan name 4-member squad for Asian team squash

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) has announced a four-member team for the Asian Team Championship to be held in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) from November 30 to December 4.

The team was selected following days of trials which saw the top four earning their places on the national team for the championship.

The four-member team finalised for the event comprises Nasir Iqbal, Tayyab Aslam, Amaad Fareed and Asem Khan.

“These are the top four players emerging from the trials held recently. They are the best and hopefully would make the nation proud by winning the Asian title,” one of the PSF officials said.

The Pakistan team is expected to face fierce challenges from Malaysia, Hong Kong and India.

“These are some of the toughest teams in the competition but hopefully Pakistan will be in a position to win the event,” he said.

Hong Kong are the defending champions of the Asian Team Championship with Pakistan having an overall edge so far.

Last time Pakistan won the Asian team event in 2016 in Chinese Taipei by beating Hong Kong 3-0 in the final.

Nasir is recovering fast and hopefully will be in the best of shape in two weeks’ time.

“He has missed the CAS Open and also withdrawn his name from the CNS event starting in Karachi within a week time. He is fully concentrating on the Asian Team Championship and hopefully would be match fit by the time the event starts after four weeks.”

Nasir is too concentrating on the Asian Individual Championship to be hosted by Pakistan at the end of December this year.

“We want Nasir and Tayyab to go all out to win the Asian individual title. Since Pakistan will be hosting the event, we definitely would be looking forward to the champion’s performance from the Pakistan side.”

Meanwhile, the fate of the World Team Championship, scheduled to be held in Malaysia after the Asian meet, appears to be hanging in the balance.

The news emerging from Malaysia suggests that Israel’s participation in the event and the host country’s reluctance to accept their team has put shadows on the event.