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Battling
against heavy odds A
gloomy year The
year of major changes Hockey’s
highs and lows Determined
not to win Squashed during a year from hell
Battling against heavy odds Pakistan cricket managed to survive a year that saw three of its leading players sent to jail in Britain By Khalid Hussain Pakistan cricket got off on the wrong foot in 2011
with three of the country’s leading cricketers getting banned in
February for their roles in a spot-fixing scandal that rocked the sport
in 2010. Salman Butt, the former Pakistan Test captain, was
banned for ten years by the International Cricket Council (ICC) while
his partners in crime — Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir — were
slapped with bans of seven and five years respectively. The trio were
caught red-handed during the Lord’s Test against England in the summer
of 2010 in a sting operation carried out by the now defunct News of the
World. Asif and Amir were accused of bowling deliberate
no-balls during the Test on Butt’s instructions. Following a lengthy trials, the trio and their agent
— Mazhar Majeed — were found guilty by an ICC tribunal. Later, a
court in London handed the three players prison terms making them the
first sportsmen to be jailed for spot-fixing. Majeed was also jailed. Nothing Pakistan could achieve on the cricket field
would have managed to completely wash away the stains caused by the
spot-fixing saga. But a World Cup triumph in April would have certainly
washed away the tears. Shahid Afridi did unite an otherwise bickering team
to guide it into the semifinals of World Cup 2011 but Pakistan fell
short in their big match against arch-rivals India. For Pakistan, the World Cup carried mixed fortunes.
Afridi and Co had a great start as they trounced hosts Sri Lanka and
then floored defending champions Australia to top Pool A. A drubbing at
the hands of New Zealand in Kandy was their only blemish in the league
stages of the tournament. And when Pakistan thrashed West Indies by ten
wickets in a one-sided quarterfinal in Dhaka, hopes were high back home
that they would go on to conquer favourites India in their own backyard.
But Pakistan were unable to rise to the occasion and succumbed to their
neighbours in Mohali in a pulsating last-four clash that was seen by
over a billion cricket fans around the globe. World Cup 2011 marked the end of Shoaib Akhtar’s
controversial yet colourful international career. The Rawaplindi Express
began the event on a high as he took a few key wickets including that of
former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene with a stunning delivery at
the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. But Ross Taylor smashed him to all
corners of the park in Kandy to make it sure that the Pakistanis won’t
field Akhtar again in any of their future matches. Heartbroken, Akhtar
shed tears at a press conference in Colombo where he announced his
retirement. Afridi, Akhtar’s World Cup captain, also suffered
from a major setback soon after the quadrennial spectacle which he
finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker. Just weeks after the World Cup, Afridi was sacked as
captain after he developed differences with his coach Waqar Younis.
Unhappy with the ‘shabby’ treatment, Afridi announced his retirement
making it clear that he would never play for Pakistan till the time the
country’s cricket board was controlled by Ijaz Butt. His prayers were finally heard in October when
President Asif Zardari — the chief patron of Pakistan Cricket Board
(PCB) — decided against extending Butt’s tenure. He replaced the
former Pakistan Test cricketer with his close friend Zaka Ashraf. One of the few major steps taken by Ashraf since
taking over the command of Pakistan cricket is the instructions he gave
for the return of Afridi. The flamboyant didn’t disappoint the new
Board chief and more importantly his fans when he played an instrumental
role in Pakistan’s 4-1 triumph in their limited-overs series against
Sri Lanka in the UAE. As far as Pakistan cricket is concerned, 2011
belonged to Misbah-ul-Haq. The 37-year-old was discarded as spent force
by national selectors but that didn’t deter Misbah from making a
forceful comeback. He didn’t just manage to cement his place as a
reliable part of the team’s middle order but also proved himself as a
successful captain. In the ten Tests Misbah played in 2011, he hit a
century and seven fifties including a score of 99. Under his captaincy,
Pakistan drew their Test series against West Indies before beating
Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Offspinner Saeed Ajmal established himself as
Pakistan’s best spinner in all three formats during 2011. In November,
he climbed to the top of the one-day rankings. It was also a satisfying year for former captain
Younis Khan, who hit a splendid ton against Sri Lanka in Sharjah before
smashing an unbeaten 200 against Bangladesh in Chittagong. Mohsin Khan, the former Pakistan Test opener, made
his bones as an international coach with a successful stint as an
‘interim’ coach. Mohsin vacated his position as national chief
selector to temporarily take over as Pakistan’s coach for the series
against Sri Lanka after Waqar decided to quit. Pakistan went on to beat
their higher-ranked opponents in all three formats of the game. Mohsin
was asked to carry on for the tour of Bangladesh where the Pakistanis
made a clean sweep in both the Test and limited-overs series. Mohsin is now fancying his chances of becoming
Pakistan’s full-time coach even as the PCB chiefs mull over the idea
of roping in Dav Whatmore, the former Sri Lanka coach, for the job. All said and done, 2011 will go down in the annals
of history as the year when three of Pakistan’s leading cricketers
were banned and later jailed for corruption. Can Pakistan cricket truly and fully recover from
the scars of the spot-fixing scandal? The optimistic answer is a
resounding yes. The good news for Pakistan is that Ijaz Butt, who
made a mess of a damage control operation carried out by the PCB in the
aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal, is not at the helm of national
cricket affairs any more. Under Misbah and Mohsin, the national cricket
team is showing signs of improvement. The most important thing for
Pakistan cricket is that the authorities should capitalise on this wave
of optimism. That’s the only way our cricket will be able to rise
again. khalidhraj@gmail.com A
gloomy year The year that has just gone was not satisfactory for
Pakistan’s sports, chiefly because the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had
to wait for long to know its status and powers after the devolution of
the federal sports ministry under the 18th amendment. After the
devolution, the PSB came under the Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC)
Division. It is trying to settle down in the new environment. But in the
outgoing year, little was done by the board to solve the financial
problems of various federations. It also failed to resolve the technical
issues during international tours and the problems in getting visas. Mostly the federations opted to bypass the PSB and
directly approach the IPC for getting their problems resolved. There was no equity in treatment of different sports
as some influential federations, such as Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF)
and Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF), got millions of rupees from the
government while the others were left in miserable condition. Let’s take a cursory look at the performance of
Pakistan in different sports disciplines during the year. As usual,
Pakistan once against flopped in boxing. In July, Pakistan fielded five
boxers in the President’s Cup in Jakarta but only Mohammad Waseem
returned with a bronze medal. Then eight pugilists took part in the
Asian Boxing Championship in Incheon (South Korea) in August, but all
failed to click, which added to the speculations that the country will
not be able to perform in London Olympics Qualifiers. And it exactly
happened in September-October when Pakistan’s efforts to make a cut
for the Olympics fizzled out as all
three of its boxers, Mohammad Waseem, Aamir Khan and Mohammad
Hussain, exited in the preliminaries of the World Championship in Baku. Pakistan still have a chance to fight for seats in
London Games as they will feature in the Asian Qualifying round in
Astana in March 2012. But the pathetic performance of the national boxers
in the recently held Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Boxing
tournament in Islamabad shows that it might be difficult for the country
to qualify for Olympics in boxing. Instead of focusing on tough training of their
boxers, Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) has been wasting its energy on
holding international events. If PBF wants its boxers in the Olympics,
it will have to hire a better foreign coach on emergency basis and
provide tough training to the boys on foreign soil ahead of the Asian
Qualifying round. In athletics, too, Pakistan failed to perform. The
country fielded five athletes in the Asian Athletics Championship in
Kobe (Japan) from July 7-10 but not a single one was able to pull off
any surprise. Sprinters Liaquat Ali, Ali Mohammad, Mohsin Ali,
Zafar Iqbal and Rabia Ashiq flopped miserly. The country’s top hurdler
Mohammad Sajjad also failed to perform in the Asian Grand Prix held in
China from May 22-29. Pakistan fielded Farhan Ahmad in the World
Athletics Championship in Daegu (Japan) where he inked his personal best
with 1:50.14 timing in the 800 metre race. Pakistan also fielded three swimmers, Kiran Khan,
Israr Hussain and Anam Banday, in the World Swimming Championship in
Shanghai where Anam not only broke a ten-year-old national record of
Mehrunnisa in the 200m breaststroke, but also broke Kiran Khan’s 400m
Individual Medley record. At least two of them can get wild cards for
the Olympics. The national
volleyball team ended seventh in the Asian Men’s Championship in
Tehran from September 21-29. The team needs a foreign coach and more
international exposure for producing better results in future. Unexpectedly, in kabaddi, Pakistan lost to Canada in
the semifinals in Kabaddi World Cup 2011 hosted by India in November. In
2010, Pakistan had got silver medal in the same event after they had
lost to India in the final because of partial refereeing. Before the
World Cup in India, Pakistan kabaddi team missed the Canada Cup in
July-August when only four players were issued visas by the Canadian
embassy in Islamabad. Similarly, Pakistan wrestling squad was deprived of
the chance to feature in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship held in
Melbourne from August 5-7 when the wrestlers were refused visas by the
Australian High Commission after the Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF)
failed to provide sponsorship details. National wrestlers have a tough task ahead as they
will appear in the Asian Championship in Almaty (Kazakhstan) from March
28 to April 1, 2012. After the continental event, which is mandatory for
Olympic qualifiers, Pakistani wrestlers will show their worth in
back-to-back Olympic qualifying rounds to be held in Taiyuan (China)
from April 25-29, 2012, and Helsinki (Finland) from May 2-6. In taekwondo and judo, Pakistan also failed to book
any berth for Olympics despite testing their foreign-based key players
in the qualifiers. Pakistani players are now waiting for the wild card
entry. But the year 2011 turned out to be more successful
for Pakistan in terms of holding international events which will soften
its image that was spoiled especially after the attack on Sri Lankan
cricket team in Lahore in 2009. The country not only successfully held a hockey
series with China, but also conducted Shaheed Benazir Bhutto
International Boxing tournament in Islamabad. It also organised
international handball tournament in Faisalabad, South Asian Judo
Championship in the federal capital, Tour de Pakistan International
Cycling Race and Pak-India Dangal in Gujranwala. 73.alam@gmail.com
The
year of major changes 2011 will be remembered for some major changes in
Pakistan’s domestic cricket. The most important was the use of
floodlights for first-class cricket for the first time. Another very
significant change was Habib Bank Limited’s (HBL) relegation within
eleven months of its becoming champion after 33 years. The fast-rising craze of Twenty20 had been
threatening the longer version of the game and there had been calls to
revamp Test cricket, with some suggesting that the traditional game be
made a day-night affair in order to keep it attractive for both viewers
and players. It was Pakistan that paid attention to this proposal
and organised the first-ever day-night official first-class match. It
was the final of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, the premier first-class event of
the country, between Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and HBL. The
game was played with the conventional white kit, though, and with the
orange ball. Dave Richardson, International Cricket Council (ICC)
General Manager for cricket, came to Karachi to witness the event for
two reasons: to gauge the impact of the new idea and the behaviour of
coloured balls; and to monitor the security condition of Pakistan, which
has prevented international teams from visiting here since the Sri
Lankan team were attacked in Lahore.
The final was marred by poor umpiring and eventually HBL came out
on top to win the most cherished title after 33 years. HBL also won the national one-day Division-I Cup,
trouncing National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in the final. Hamza
Paracha’s scintillating ton helped Lahore Eagles upset star-studded
KRL in the Division-II one-day cup finale. HBL’s success on the cricket field brought glory
to the department, but players were never rewarded for their outstanding
efforts as the athletes complained that they deserved to get permanent,
but they were never heard. Eventually 11 months after creating history,
HBL have become history themselves as they have been relegated to the
Division-II. Had the players been rewarded the outcome could have been
totally different. Now PIA have snatched HBL’s crown for their 7th
triumph in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy after defeating ZTBL in the recently
concluded final. PIA-ZTBL affair was played with the pink ball
instead of orange. It was strange, though that players were not talked
to about the pink ball before the match. In addition, teams were never
given the original material for practice. The final revealed four bright prospects in the form
of ZTBL’s Haris Sohail, PIA’s trio of Fahad Iqbal, Anwar Ali and Ali
Imran Pasha. Haris and Pasha have been given chance in a
three-day warm-up against England. Fahad and Anwar have been kept
waiting for their turn alongside Karachi Whites pacer Tabish Khan, the
highest wicket taker of domestic season with 61 wickets in Division-II,
one more than Pasha, who bagged 60 victims in Division-I. One person who deserves to wear the national cap
more than anybody is Sialkot’s Mohammad Ayub Dogar as he has scored
more than 1000 runs in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for the fourth year in a rowóthe
only player to do so in last ten years. Rawalpindi’s rise in T20 One team that truly deserve all the applause are
Rawalpindi Rams who stunned the star-studded teams in the two T20 events
played in the calendar year, winning one and finishing runner-up in the
other. The supreme leadership of Sohail Tanvir helped a
starless Rawalpindi to become champions in the Super-Eight T20 tourney
as they edged-out Karachi Dolphins in the nail-biting and the best ever
T20 final in Pakistan. The final was decided in the Super Over, which is
also known as One-over eliminator. It was the combination of Owais Zia
and Raza Hasan, who held their nerves to seal victory for their team. In the 13-team T20 event, Rawalpindi were piped by
Sialkot Stallionsóthe most successful T20 side of the countryófor the
title. Afghan Cheetas became the first foreign team to take
part in any of Pakistan’s T20 tournament. Sialkot had both experience and big names for the
mega occasion but it was the presence of left-arm spinner Raza Hasan
that proved to be the difference. Raza was asked to play for his home
team by Shoaib Malik. Had he been in Rams they would have got their
second title. The 2011 uncovered many talented players but most of
them have been kept waiting in the wings for their turns. It is sheer
apathy that none of the players from the talented likes of Raza Hasan,
Tabish Khan, Mohammad Ayub Dogar, Afaq Rahim, Owais Zia, Fahad Iqbal,
Sharjeel Khan and Ali Khan have played for Pakistan in any format of the
game. In addition, Super-Eight T20 star Rameez Raja Jr was
given just two T20s against Zimbabwe and was pulled out despite decent
outings. Anwar Ali was played in only one T20. Prolific run-scorer Usman
Salahuddin was also not given sufficient chance to prove his mettle. The domestic cricketers are not well paid at all.
They get peanuts for their efforts throughout the year. One hopes that
2012 will bring the best for Pakistan cricket.
Hockey’s
highs and lows For Pakistan hockey, 2011 began with a lot of hope
but ended with apprehensions. The Green-shirts were tipped to make more
progress last year after finishing 2010 on a high following a
morale-boosting, title-winning triumph at the Asian Games in Guangzhou
(China). Early signs were good as the Pakistanis marched into
the final of the 2011 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh (Malaysia) before
falling to world champions Australia in the title clash that was decided
by a golden goal in extra-time. But unfortunately it was mostly downhill for the
national team after the Malaysian assignment last spring. Last summer, Pakistan were sent on a month-long
sojourn to Europe where they teed off with a title in a minor
quadrangular in Ireland before getting massacred by higher-ranked teams
in Netherlands. In Dublin, Pakistan were stunned 4-2 by minnows
France but the former world champions bounced back to beat Ireland and
China to enter the final in which they overcame the spirited hosts 2-1
to win the title in June. In many ways, the tour of Europe where Pakistan
finished last in a four-nation contest in Amsterdam was in eye opener
for the national hockey chiefs. A series of losses against the Dutch,
Germany and below-par results against lower-ranked opponents like Poland
and France was a clear indication that in spite of their status as the
Asian Games champions, Pakistan were still lagging far behind the
European teams. They held England 2-2 but were beaten 2-1 by Germany and
thrashed 4-0 by Netherlands to slump to a last-place finish in the
tournament. Later in September, even Pakistan’s Asian
supremacy received a jolt when they failed to win the inaugural Asian
Champions Trophy held in Ordos (China). Pakistan were tipped to win the
title after entering the final with an enviable ease. But they failed to
click when it mattered most, falling 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out against
old rivals India in the finale. A few weeks later, Pakistan went on a tour Down
Under where they featured in a couple of tournaments that also involved
hosts Australia, New Zealand and India. Pakistan failed to impress much
in a four-nation event in Perth where they finished third, just ahead of
India. But they bounced back in the second event, beating Australia 4-3
in a pulsating final in Perth. The win was almost a miracle as Australia, the world
number ones, were hands down favourites to win the tri-nation final
against Pakistan, languishing at number nine in the world rankings. Just
a few days before the final, Australia had hammered Pakistan 8-2 in a
league match of the tournament. Pakistan returned home brimming with confidence as
they began preparing for the 2011 Champions Trophy in Auckland in
December. Pakistan had not featured in the elite event since 2007 and
were only able to make the cut for last year’s edition after the
International Hockey Federation (FIH) raised the number of teams from
six to eight. Hopes were high back home mainly because of
Pakistan’s Perth triumph. Hockey fans were expecting the national team
to at least finish among the top-four in Auckland. But all their hopes
were shattered as Pakistan were cut down to size by England, Spain,
Australia and Germany in the tournament. Following a series of defeats,
Pakistan finally managed a consolation win against Asian rivals Korea in
the playoff for the seventh place. Their flop show in Auckland was a bitter reminder of
the fact that Pakistan were still not ready for the big league. Their
critics were quick to rule out any hopes of a medal at the 2012 Olympic
Games in London after the Champions Trophy debacle. However, Michel van den Heuvel — Pakistan’s
Dutch coach — announced that his team remains in contention for
Olympic glory in spite of its poor showing in Auckland. The Dutchman
made it clear that when he took over as Pakistan’s coach in 2010,
winning the Asian Games crown was his biggest target. After having
achieved that goal, his eyes were now set at helping Pakistan win an
Olympic medal in London. Pakistan, three-time Olympic champions, have not won
an Olympic medal since claiming a bronze at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
Like all other leading hockey-playing nations of the world, Pakistan’s
biggest assignment of 2012 will be the London Games in August. Their
coach may still be optimistic of a strong showing from his team at the
Olympiad but after what happened in Auckland, Pakistan’s chances of
winning a medal in London appear slim. But in spite of all the
apprehensions, hockey fans will keep their fingers crossed in the hope
that that their players will not disappoint them in London. khalidhraj@gmail.com
Determined
not to win 2011 was a busy yet unproductive year for
Pakistan’s football as the country appeared in loads of international
events, but failed to impress on almost every occasion. After the national team flopped in the Asian Games
in China in 2010, the country needed a foreign coach in order to prepare
a fighting lot for 2011 events that included the AFC Challenge Cup
Qualifiers, Olympic Qualifiers, World Cup Qualifiers and the SAFF
Championship. But due to financial problems, Pakistan Football
Federation (PFF) failed to hire a foreign coach and had to rely on
homegrown coach for the vital assignments, resulting in utter
disappointment. After the Asian Games, the PFF even failed to offer
a contract to former English player Graham Roberts who had acted as a
consultant for the Pakistan team during the China event. Under local coach Tariq Lutfi, who was installed on
January 15 as a replacement for Akhtar Mohiuddin, the team failed to
impress in the 2012 Olympic Qualifiers, the first major event of the
year. They were edged out by Malaysia 2-0 on February 23 at Kuala Lumpur
before they played a goalless draw against the same rivals at Lahore on
March 9. Pakistan had to suffer a big blow before the event
when their key defender Haji Mohammad, who was expected to be named as
skipper, got injured and had to be dropped. Jadeed Khan Pathan was
installed as the leader of the brigade that had not only toured Thailand
before the first leg but had also got two practice matches against
Palestine in Lahore and Karachi before the home leg. The coach could not make excuses because the PFF had
given to him sufficient support in terms of foreign tours and friendly
matches before the dream event. The AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur was
the other key assignment where Pakistan earned only a single victory and
that too against Chinese Taipei when they downed them 2-0 in their last
Group C outing before being dismantled by Turkmenistan 3-0 and
arch-rivals India 3-1. Experienced defender Samar Ishaq acted as captain
during the qualifiers in place of Jaffar Khan who was unnecessarily axed
after his team did not click in the Asian Games. The decision to omit Jaffar from the AFC Challenge
Cup squad left the goalkeeping department a bit weak. However, after the failure in Kuala Lumpur, Jaffar
was brought back for the most vital 2014 World Cup Qualifiers. But here
too the green-shirts failed to click and exited in the first round after
losing their away leg against the much beatable Bangladesh 0-3 under
heavy downpour in Dhaka before playing a goalless draw against the same
rivals in Lahore on July 3 where the hosts needed a victory with a
four-goal margin to qualify for the second round. England-based defender Zeeshan Rehman ruled himself
out of the squad, citing security reasons before the second leg when
Pakistan direly needed his services. Zesh, who does not look serious in
playing for Pakistan, had also missed a game in the AFC Challenge Cup
qualifiers. The non-serious attitude of Zesh compelled Pakistan to
ignore him for the rest of the events. After these failures, the authorities opted to focus
on youth and expelled all the home-based senior players from the squad
which was to tour England for the two-match series against India that
was ultimately cancelled after the organisers failed to generate
sufficient funds. The SAFF Cup was the other big assignment of the
year where Pakistan also failed to qualify for the semifinals under
newly-appointed Serbian coach Zavisa Milosavljevic. The foreigner joined
the team on November 5 and had to face various problems while building a
unit that was picked by Tariq Lutfi. After observing the team, carrying
mostly Under-23 players, he injected a few seniors including goalkeeper
Jaffar Khan, striker Shakir Lashari and Samar Ishaq for the Delhi
assignment where Pakistan played draw all their three pool matches
against Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal, scoring only a single goal
against the Nepalese. It was another poor display from Pakistan. The
authorities should think why Afghanistan played SAFF Cup final against
India. As usual, Adnan Ahmad and Atif Bashir were the only foreign-based
players which Pakistan had called for the affair in India. Had
everything been properly planned much before the event, other
foreign-based key aspirants like Hassan Bashir, Nabil Aslam, Shabbir
Khan and Mohammad Ali could have been picked for the SAFF Cup that India
won after beating Afghanistan 4-0. Poor finishing was the major flaw during all these
assignments and a lot of work is needed to improve the scoring rate. However, amid persistent failures Pakistan’s colts
gifted the country a historic title when they won the Under16 SAFF
Championship in Nepal in August after beating India in the final. Although the same colts and then the Under-19 team
could not click in their respective AFC Championship Qualifiers but
still with good resistance against some tough teams they showed that
Pakistan have a lot of talent which should be groomed properly. Now after bringing in Zavisa, the PFF should try to
get the best out of him during his two-year tenure as a coach and build
strong teams, both at senior and junior levels. In 2012, Pakistan will be fielding its team in the
Under-22 Asian Cup Qualifiers to be held in June-July and the same team
will also have to show its worth in the SAFF Games to be hosted by India
most probably after the London Olympics. If the PFF is able to implement
Zavisa’s plan that the foreigner has already submitted with the
federation then I believe it could yield better results in future. 73.alam@gmail.com
Squashed
during a year from hell It was all bad news
for Pakistan squash in what was a year from hell. In January 2011, the
unthinkable happened when Pakistan succumbed to squash minnows India in
the final of the Asian Junior Championships in Colombo. It was a huge
setback for Pakistan, once regarded as the strongest squash-playing
nation on the planet. Adding insult to injury was the fact that they had
lost their supremacy on the Asian junior circuit to India, their biggest
sporting rivals. Things only got worse
for Pakistan as 2011 progressed. In August, the
six-time former champions suffered the ignominy of failing to finish
among the top-16 for the first in the history of the Men’s World Team
Squash Championship. The Pakistanis crashed to a 1-2 loss against
underdogs Denmark to crash out of the qualification race for the second
round of the 2011 World Team Squash Championship in Paderborn, Germany.
The humiliating defeat came after a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Asian
rivals Malaysia in a critical Pool E match. Their poor performance
against Denmark, seeded 17/24 in the 32-nation event, meant that
Pakistan finished third in the pool behind top-placed Malaysia and
Denmark. Since only the top two teams from each group proceeded to the
next stage of the competition, Pakistan bowed out of contention in the
biennial championship. The Paderborn debacle
capped a stunning turnaround for Pakistan used to run roughshod over its
rivals during a golden era in which the country produced legends like
Hashim Khan, Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan. Pakistan’s fortunes have
taken a nosedive in international squash since the exit of Jansher in
the late nineties but what happened at the Ahorn-Sport Park in Paderborn
was unimaginable. Later, Pakistan’s
squash chiefs tried taking face-saving measures by banning some of the
country’s top players for deliberately under-performing in Germany. However, it’s
apparent that one of the prime reasons behind Pakistan’s slump is the
incompetence if the country’s squash authorities. Just weeks before the
German assignment, a blunder committed by former Pakistan Squash
Federation (PSF) secretary Irfan Asghar prevented Pakistan from
partaking in the World Junior Championship in Belgium. Pakistan, among
the title favourites in Belgium, were denied Belgian visas. It was later
learned that the PSF failed to obtain visa letters from the event’s
organisers in time because it had been pursuing officials of the World
Men’s Team Championship in Germany for the documents! In October, there was
sad news for Pakistan’s sports community when it was revealed by
‘The News’ that squash legend Jansher Khan, one of Pakistan’s most
accomplished sportsmen of all time, was suffering from Parkinson’s
disease. Jansher, who won a
record eight World Open titles, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease
following a series of tests. Parkinson’s disease
is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Legendary
boxer Muhammad Ali is the world’s most famous Parkinson’s patient. Jansher is inarguably
one of the most successful players in the history of squash having
acclaimed eight World and six British Open titles. He shot to
international fame when he won the world junior title in Singapore back
in 1986. He didn’t waste much time in becoming a full-time
professional and became the number one opponent of the previously
invincible Jahangir Khan. For years, the
Jahangir-Jansher rivalry made international headlines. Their
partnership, meanwhile, earned great laurels for Pakistan with the 1993
World Team Championship triumph in Karachi being the last one. Jansher beat the
legendary Jahangir Khan in the semifinals of the 1987 World Open before
conquering Australia’s Chris Dittmar in the final to win his first
World Open crown. He is the only player in squash history to have won
both the senior and junior titles in the same year. Jansher went on to win
seven more World Open titles to create a record that is still intact
today. He clinched his last World Open in 1996 but was forced to stay
away from the 1997 edition which was held in Kuala Lumpur because of a
pending court order in Malaysia relating to maintenance payments for his
son, Kamran Khan, following his separation from his Malaysian wife. Jansher, who hails
from a family of world-class squash players, stayed as the world’s
number one squash player for almost ten years, also a record. In all, he
won a total of 99 PSA World Tour titles. A knee injury forced him to
retire in 2001. Six years later,
Jansher decided to make his international comeback and featured in a
Professional Squash Association tournament in London in October 2007 at
the age of 38. Far from his brilliant best, Jansher lost in the opening
round of the event to England’s Scott Handley 11-9, 6-11, 6-11 11-0. bilalsports86@yahoo.com
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