'The Sorry Plight of Squash Coaching in Pakistan' from Our Correspondent
August 20, 2019
- KARACHI: Pakistan is lagging far behind the Asian region when it
comes to the development of squash coaches as only three coaching
courses have been held since 2013.
It has been learnt that Pakistan conducted an Asian Squash Federation
(ASF) sanctioned Level-2 coaching course in August 2013 in Islamabad.
The next ASF Level-2 coaching course was held in October 2014 in
Lahore, and one ASF Level-1 coaching course was held in Islamabad in
May 2016.
This is nothing when compare with the coaching courses the regional
countries held during the same period – two courses per year on average.
Interestingly, neither any World Squash Federation (WSF) sanctioned
course nor ASF Level-3 course was conducted in the said period by
Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF).
This is a key reason Pakistan has failed to produce champion players in
the past one or two decades and currently only one player is in top 50
world rankings.
Sadly, Pakistan has only three ASF Coaching Tutors namely Fahim Gul
(Level-3), Khalid Atlas (Level-1), and Yawar Aslam (Level-1) among 37
ASF Coaching Tutors in Asia.
Pakistan has only one ASF consultant coach -- Fahim Gul. Given the
situation, seasoned coach Mehboob Khan has severely criticised Pakistan
Squash Federation (PSF) for its non-performing coaching system.
He said hiring of non-professional coaches by PSF was damaging Pakistan
squash. “Our target in junior squash should have been British Junior
Open and World Juniors,” said Mehboob.
“But our poor results in the two events speak volume of the
incompetency of the coaches hired by PSF. We have made enough
investment in our junior programme. Now we need to focus on our
seniors,” said Mehboob.
Ironically, PSF sacked Fahim, its only level-3 coach, and currently
there is no head coach. PSF is running its coaching system with the
help of associate coaches hired for brief periods.
Before Fahim, PSF had also sacked Jamshed. “There is no qualified coach in the current coaching setup of PSF,” said Jamshed.
He is currently in the United States for some coaching assignments. To
a question, he said coaches would win awards on the basis of their
performance and for that they needed refresher courses.
“I conducted two level-2 coaching courses during my time and wanted to
hold level-3 course as well. The current PSF management has not yet
conducted any coaching course,” said Jamshed.
It is pertinent to mention here that no Pakistani squash coach has won
any Asian award or recognition since 2009. Rehmat Khan won Asian Squash
Federation (ASF) award for Development Coach of the Year in 2009.
Since then, no Pakistani coach has managed to win any award or
certificate of recognition by ASF in any category. Fahim Gul won the
Coach of the Year Award in 2007 and 2006.
Fazal Shah won Certificate of Recognition in 2007. Abdur-Rasheed and
Mehboob Khan won Certificates of Recognition in 2006. Ayaz Khan won
Development Coach of the Year award in 2005.
Yawar Aslam won Certificate of Recognition the same year. In 2004,
Rehmat won two awards: Coach of the Year and Junior Coach of the Year.
Rehmat won Elite Coach of the Year award in 2003.
Interestingly, Rehmat and Fahim are not on the coaching panel of the
PSF. Mehboob Khan is also not doing the coaching job, and PSF is only
banking on Fazal and Mohammad Yaseen with a few junior coaches for the
uplift of squash in the country.
Recently, Khalid Atlas Khan who is the only WSF Level-I tutor in
Pakistan offered his services to the PSF to help the country’s squash.
“I have a professional coaching experience of over 13 years and served
in many countries including Kuwait, India (Mumbai), Guatemala, and
China. I offer my expertise to the PSF for the uplift of squash,” said
Khalid.
It is to be noted that Khalid is SPMUDA Chairman Sports for South Asia
and Commissioner At-Large for SPMUDA World Team of Youth and Sports
Development.
