‘Lack of fitness reason behind Asim’s poor performance’

KARACHI: Lack of fitness is the key reason for poor performance of Asim Khan in the international circuit for quite some time, said a Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) while talking to ‘The News’.

“He did not show any good performance in the last three years. After so many years in squash, he cannot show us any good performance in any average event [like PSA 30],” said the official.

Asim, ranked 59th internationally, is the second top squash player of the country. He recently expressed his disappointment over not getting any sponsorship or support from the government. “I have only one sponsor and that too from India. I don’t have any sponsors from Pakistan,” said Asim on his Twitter account.

The official said Asim could not manage to break into the top 30 players of the world in spite of playing a huge number of international events.

“Nobody can stop him from performing well. It’s an individual sport. PSF has been sponsoring him for international participations by arranging tickets for him,” said the official.

The official said that the basic issue is that Asim never does even 30 percent of the required training, especially fitness. “The formula is simple. He should train well, do his job well and he will always be a good performer,” said the official.

A former national player seconded this opinion and said that Asim has passed his heyday in squash. “The federation should focus on new talented players instead of spending money on bad performers as they have spent their prime time in squash,” said the former player.

It is pertinent to mention here that Asim finished in last 16 in six international events and stood in last 64 in three international events this year.

After not getting selected in the national team for Commonwealth Games over poor performance, he lamented that there is no sponsorship, no employment, and no support from the government. He also lost his contract recently.

Asim said: “And the most important thing, our future is not secured [despite the fact that] it’s been almost 9 years [that he’s] representing SNGPL.

“Won so many titles for them but still on contract. Sometimes I don’t get my salary for 6 or 8 months,” said Asim. He said participation in one international event costs him half a million rupees.

It is worth adding here that Asim has so far won five PSA Tour titles since his debut on the Tour in 2012.