A Neglected World Champion by Usama Khan June 17, 2021
- Every squash fan must know the answers of two questions. Who was the
first Pakistani to become the world amateur champion? And who was the
first Pakistani to defeat Australian legend Geoff Hunt.
The man was Maqsood Ahmed, who is now living a retired life in Karachi.
In 1977, Maqsood became the first ever Pakistani to win the ISRF World
Amateur Individual Championship (Men) by defeating his brother M Saleem
in Canada.
Legendary squash player Jahangir Khan was the second Pakistani to win this championship, once in 1979 and once in 1983.
The World Amateur Individual Championship was inaugurated by the ISRF
in 1967, at the same time as the Team event. The two events were played
concurrently every two years until 1983.
In 1981 the event was opened to professionals and the name changed to
World Individual Championship. Prize money was offered for the first
time in 983.
Australia’s Geoff Hunt won the three first editions of this World
Amateur Championship in 1967, 1969, and 1971. He turned pro after
winning the 1971 edition.
Later, Maqsood achieved another honor by becoming the first Pakistani
player to defeat Australian Geoff Hunt. It was the final of Swiss Open
Championship in 1981.
Geoff Hunt never recovered from this defeat until the end of his
career. This paid well for Maqsood when he ended the year of 1980 as
number four in the world.
The ISPA world rankings released in 1980-81 had three Pakistani players
in the top 5. Jahangir Khan was number one and Qamar Zaman was number
three. Maqsood Ahmed stood number four and Hiddy Jahan from Pakistan
was at number five.
After winning a number of big events and remaining part of the winning
team of different World Team Championships, Maqsood became the national
coach in 1994-95.
He served as a coach to the national teams participating in World Junior and World Team Championships from 1998-2000.
I met him last week and observed that he has become quite bitter. But he has a valid reason for his bitterness.
The reason is that he has not been given any civil award by any federal
or provincial governments despite his marvelous achievements.
So far 16 squash players have received different awards from the federal government on their achievements.
Nine of them got Pride of Performance, two received Sitara-e-Imtiaz,
two got Hilal-e-Imtiaz, two took Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, and one got
Tamgha-e-Quaid-e-Azam.
But sadly, Maqsood is not among them. This is a sheer injustice to a
legend and at the same time making the whole award conferring criteria
highly doubtful.
“If any of them, who have got awards, had even shown 50 percent
performance compared to my achievements, I had no objection on not
getting any award,” said Maqsood ruefully.
He recalled his achievements in this short sitting with me. He said
after winning the world championship he met General Zia-ul-Haq, the
ruler of the country at that time.
He said Zia promised him a land in Sindh on this achievement. But this
promise never materialized. Since then, every government has ignored
Maqsood.
Maqsood said he has many times raised this issue but he is still
without any award. Even the government of Sindh never bothered to
consider him for any award.
He was of the view that the criterion of conferring awards on athletes
of the country with high achievements is beyond his comprehension.
I think the government should address the grievances of Maqsood since
he is an asset to the country. Pakistan’s magnificent squash history is
incomplete without him.
He deserves Pride of Performance at least. Tributes to him by the
national and international squash fraternity are enough for him but on
the part of the government a lot is needed to be done.
Interestingly, legendary squash player Jahangir Khan’s recommendation
in 1995 has still not been honored by the Pakistani authorities, which
shows the indifference of the government towards the national heroes.
In February 1995, Jahangir Khan spoke to media and recommended to the
government to give Pride of Performance Award to Pakistan’s first world
amateur champion Maqsood Ahmed.
“Maqsood deserves this award. In fact he should have been awarded this
civil award long time back. He is the pride of Pakistan,” said Jahangir
while talking to media in Karachi.
Besides, the sports department of Pakistan International Airlines in
the same year proposed to Pakistan Sports Board to give this civil
award to Maqsood.
But more than 25 years have passed and the government, PSB, or Ministry
of Inter-provincial Coordination have not yet given any award to
Maqsood.
