ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s junior squash players who displayed brilliant performance in the recently-concluded British Junior Squash Championship arrived to a warm welcome from Pakistan Squash Federation and other squash lovers here on Wednesday.

The juniors who brought laurels for the country, especially young and talented Hamza Khan who won the U-15 Championship for Pakistan after a gap of eight years, were warmly received by Secretary PSF Tahir Sultan and other senior officials of the federations at Islamabad Airport.

Later on, while speaking with media persons at the PSF office, champion Hamza said that he did lot of hard work and preparation for the championship, which paid off in the end. He also appreciated the support and hard work of his coaches andthe team management. Hamza said he won the championship with the help of prayers of his parents and squash lovers of the country.

Besides Hamza, Muhammad Ammad and Noor Zaman who played semifinals in U-15 and U-17 events respectively, also spoke on the occasion.

Meanwhile, Federal Secretary of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Akbar Durrani said that victory of the junior players will be a booster for country’s young squash players who are aspiring to represent Pakistan at the international level.

He said that brilliant performance of juniors in a high-profile event like British Junior Championship is testimony to the fact that there is no dearth of sporting talent in Pakistan.

Director General Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Amna Imran said that PSB will continue its support for players. “These players are future of the country. They are the future Jansher Khans and Jahangir Khans and we must take good care of them,” she said.

Director Academies PSF, Aftab Qureshi paid tribute to Hamza and said that throughout the tournament he played superbly. “Our other two two-semifinalist also played very well while 13-year-old Abdullah Nawaz showed unbelievable mental strength when he defeated several seeded players,” he said.

“But unfortunately Abdullah bowed out in the quarterfinal against a much stronger Egyptian player who was quite tall,” said Aftab.

Later on the players met with Federal Minister for IPC Dr Fehmida Mirza who appreciated the performance of juniors players. She asked the players to maintain the tempo and try and perform to the best of their abilities.

Sources said Secretary PSF Tahir Sultan requested the IPC minister for cash incentives for the junior squash players and minister assured them that she would explore options in this regard.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2020