26 Pak players register with PSA in 2022

KARACHI: As many as 26 squash players from Pakistan have become ‘pro’ by getting membership of Professional Squash Association this year, taking the number of Pakistan players registered with the PSA to 129.

This is the highest number of registration from Pakistani players since 2016.

Though 61 players from the country have already left the Professional Squash Association since 2014, this gradual increase in the new memberships shows the interest of people in squash is still intact.

The numbers faced a dip in 2020 when the Covid-19 hit the world and only seven players from Pakistan registered themselves with PSA.

Before the pandemic, 13 players became professional by getting PSA membership in 2019.

But simply getting PSA membership does not help players as they don’t get to play international events, sometimes for years, due to their low rankings.

This discourages them most of the time and they leave the international circuit after a while.

Though this element was addressed by the squash authorities in the country by organising a number of international satellite events, the situation is still bad for many players.

According to details, out of 26 registered players in 2022 only 15 managed to play international satellite events while only one player played ‘PSA Challenger’ events.

The players who registered with PSA in 2022 are: Ammar Muhammad, Anas Khan, Asad Khan, Azam Khalil, Habib Zeb, Hamza Zahid, Hasan Paracha, Khakan Malik, Kumail Tariq, Mehmood Mehboob, Moeen-ud-Din, M Fawad, M Hanif, M Ibtasam, Noor Zaman Orakzai, Oan Abbas, Saboor Khan, Sana Bahadar, Saqib Sheikh, Shary Saleem, Shiraz Akbar, Umer Arshad, Waqar Naeem, Zain Rizwan, Zarlish Safdar, and Zoraiz Naeem.