Pakistan's Squash Woes: From Greatness to Mediocrity
For as long as one can remember, squash has been a national pastime in Pakistan. By producing such squash greats as Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan, Pakistan had put itself on the squash map. The history of squash in the country is much richer than just these two great players and it is a fascinating tale of courage and determination. This story has a sad end though for none of the current crop of squash playing youngsters anywhere near as great as the all time past greats of the sport. The way back for the sport will be difficult but achievable with a lot of hard work and struggle.
Squash was apparently invented in 1830 in England. It was actually invented by schoolchildren who found that playing a game by hitting a ball against a wall with racquets was actually very enjoyable. The sport grew from there until its present form today. There was a long period of growth and change in the game from the early 1900s until the 1960s when it went through many changes and a final version was finally reached by new governing bodies that were formed; like the International Squash Rackets Association which eventually changed its name to the current World Squash Federation. Squash has become a very popular game all over the world and is played in many countries. The pinnacle of the game is the World Squash Championships.
Pakistan has had an impressive run in the game of squash, producing more World Champions than any other country in the world. The history of squash in Pakistan is very interesting. It all started with the introduction of squash by the British colonial rulers of the Subcontinent. The game was played by the elite of the British Raj until the day a Pakistani man named Abdul Majeed Khan, played squash with British officers. He started the Khan dynasty and is the predecessor for the entire Khan line of great squash players. Before Abdul Majeed Khan came along, Pakistanis were only ball-boys for the British officers. By playing with the officers and beating them, Khan started a tradition of the great Khan Squash players.
Then came the great Jahangir Khan. He was the first true World Champion of squash from Pakistan and put Pakistani squash players on the map. His phenomenal skills seemed unstoppable and he held the longest unbeaten streak in the game. This unbeaten streak lasted for an amazing 550 matches. He seemed unstoppable and if he is to be measured on this aspect of his game alone he stands a chance of being considered one of the world's greatest athletes. Jahangir had the great fortune of having the right genes for the job because his father, brother and cousin were all international squash players. It seems squash ran in his blood. The interesting thing about him though was that he did not only rely on his genes to get him through he had an immense training schedule and he honed his skills whenever he got the chance to.
This brings us to the current state of Pakistani squash. The new crop of squash players are a far cry from the greats of yesteryear; players like Aamir Atlas Khan and Maria Toor Pakay. Even though there is talent to be found, it does not seem to be nurtured and developed on the right kind of scale to achieve greatness as the former players did. It seems there are a few factors at fault here. First of all the Pakistan Squash Federation from no lack of trying has yet failed to produce one talented world class squash player. Another reason is that the players themselves lack the commitment and drive it takes to train for 7 to 8 hours a day to reach a level of greatness in the game. It could be a lack of funding or the fact that most of the country is enthralled by cricket these days and has forgotten about squash altogether. Whatever the reason, the game in Pakistan looks set to wither away into oblivion.
Although there might be hope still left for the current crop of players, Malaysia's World Number One female squash player; Nicol David, thinks that a revival can happen. She believes that patience should be shown with the young players of the country and they will get better ad they gain more experience at playing at an international level. Maybe the country should get behind the new talent Pakistan is producing and show them some support and then they might start winning some competitions and making the nation proud.
Even though squash in Pakistan is nothing as compared to its heyday, there is hope in a revival of sorts. The country needs to nurture its talent and provide them with support and acknowledgement and maybe the game will rise from the ashes and we will once again see Pakistan producing champions in the world of squash.
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