Balochistan Squash from Our Correspondent January 20. 2022
- A former national player has come forward to help Balochistan squash
so that it can once again start producing great players like Zarak
Jehan, Hidy Jehan, Zubair Jehan, Shams Kakar, and Humayun Khan.
Mujtaba Raza feels confident that he would do his best to complete this uphill task and make this happen.
“All those players were from Quetta but now we don’t get champion players from Balochistan, which is quite disappointing.
“So we are working on it to make Quetta once again a valuable
contributor to the national and international squash,” said
Mujtaba.
To begin with his dream, Mujtaba is organizing a $1000 Balochistan
Satellite Squash Tournament and $1000 Balochistan Senior Open Satellite
at Ayub Stadium, Quetta from February 18-23.
The last date of entries is February 1st and the draw size is 16 with
the competition format as knockout system while the level of the events
is PSA Satellite.
“We will provide accommodation to players. The winner of each event
will get $200 while runner-ups, semi-finalists, quarter-finalists, and
first round losers will also get a hefty amount,” said Mujtaba.
He said that with the help of his friends he arranged finances to
organize these two satellite events initially with the aim of resuming
squash activities in Balochistan so that the province can start
producing great players once again.
“We also got support from M Arshad of Balochistan Squash Association,
Shahid Mehdi, who is coach at Ayub Stadium and few others,” said
Mujtaba.
Mujtaba said that these tournaments are being held in Quetta after a
gap of around 16 months as the last international event in the province
was the $1000 PSF Balochistan Satellite Squash Tournament held in
October 2020, which was won by Nasir Iqbal.
“These tournaments are to benefit local players. They will get
motivated as they work hard for such opportunities and this whole
situation will create a conducive environment for them,” said Mujtaba.
He added that in the absence of competitions local players get
disheartened; therefore, it is important to continuously hold such
events in order to give players hope.
“Our future plan is to increase the prize money of these events and
next time we might organize a 5k or 10k event. If the associated units
of PSF make efforts, it would benefit the country’s squash in the end,”
said Mujtaba.
He said that he started playing squash in Balochistan and then he moved
to the United Arab Emirates where he became under-19 champion.
“Now I want to pay back to my province. I want to help the province’s
local players who don’t get chances to prove their talent,” said
Mujtaba.
He said he has started a new career as a promoter and he would keep
organizing events in Balochistan and will continue working for the
development of local squash players.
