Former six-time champions Pakistan had never been in the run to recapture the squash team title that it last won 14 years ago in Karachi. But instead of bettering its seventh place, Pakistan’s performance turned out to be highly frustrating and disappointing at the recently concluded 29-nation World Team Squash Championship at the Indian port city of Chennai. We were relegated to ninth place.

Our squash standard after retirement of the two legendary Khans — Jahangir and Jansher — has remained on a constant decline what with the new generation of players badly letting down the nation and failing totally to re-establish the country’s lost image in international squash.

It was Pakistan’s sixth successive failure at not even being able to enter the semi-finals of the biannual championship. The team title, we already lost to England in the record 32-nation 1995 Cairo championship, under the captaincy of Jansher Khan. Defending champions England, seeded second after Egypt at the time, retained the trophy after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the fourth-seeded eight-time former winners Australia. It was England’s sixth victory in the championship.

In the semi-finals, England also got the better of the third-seeded France 2-1 while Australia registered an upsetting 2-1 victory over the top-seeded title favourites Egypt, the 1999 winners.

Two years prior, the incomparable Jahangir Khan retired in glory from the world of squash after leading Pakistan to victory for the sixth and last time in the 1993 championship, which was held in Karachi.

Final placing after the conclusion of the 2007 championship:

1. England, 2. Australia, 3. France, 4. Egypt, 5. Malaysia, 6. Canada, 7. The Netherlands, 8. India, 9. Pakistan, 10. Wales, 11. South Africa, 12. Ireland, 13. New Zealand, 14. United States, 15. Hong Kong, 16. Germany, 17. Sweden, 18. Scotland, 19. Spain, 20. Japan, 21. Finland , 22. Kuwait, 23. Kenya, 24. Austria, 25. Sri Lanka (new entrants), 26. Bermuda (new entrants), 27. Russia, 28.Venezuela, 29. Taiwan (new entrants).

Finishing seventh in the 22-nation 2005 World Team Championship in Islamabad, Pakistan had no chance of winning back the title at Chennai as it was noticed that our team players lacked the professional commitment required for hard and strenuous training to overcome world challenges.

The four-member Pakistan team in its fold had the most seasoned campaigner, the left-handed Mansoor Zaman, who was representing the country for the fourth successive time in the biannual championship. Farhan Mahboob was named a second time while Aamir Atlas Khan and Yasir Butt (runners-up in the 2004 World Junior [under-19] championship) had been included for the first time. None of the players was ranked even among the world’s top 20 and the team gave a pathetic performance. Even India, who finished 11th in 2005, performed better to end up in the last eight for the first time after defeating Wales in the pre-quarterfinals.

Placed in the four-team Group G, Pakistan beat Kenya 3-0, beat India 3-0 and beat Bermuda 3-0 to become the group champions and we entered the 16-team pre-quarterfinals along with India. Two teams from other seven groups also entered the next stage. They were Egypt and Germany from Group A, England and Hong Kong from Group B, France and United States from Group C, Australia and New Zealand from Group D, Malaysia and South Africa from Group E, Canada and Ireland from Group F, Sweden and The Netherlands from Group H.

Placed 12th in the last championship and the runners-up in Group H, the Netherlands turned ruthless in handling the former six times champions and Group G leaders Pakistan by registering a stunning 3-0 victory to enter the quarter-finals for the first time.

Like India, the Netherlands also gave a commendable performance, finishing seventh to reach the quarter-finals.

Mansoor was beaten by Netherlands’ Dylon Bennett 1-3, Aamir Atlas Khan suffered a 0-3 defeat against Laurens Jan Anjema and Farhan Mahboob was beaten by Piedro Schweetman by 0-2 to complete the formalities of the match after the Dutch team took a winning lead of 2-0.

Losing to the Netherlands points to our players’ failure in putting up any kind of a formidable fight against their opponents in the first two matches. The left-handed Mansoor Zaman could snatch only a game while Aamir Atlas was ousted in three straight games and the Dutch were through to the quarter-finals. It only indicated that our top three players lacked the basic requirement of squash — stamina. Not even one of our three top players could extend their Dutch opponents to five full games.

Pakistan played classified matches and finished ninth by defeating Germany 2-1, Chinese Taipei 3-0 and Wales 2-1.

So Pakistan’s performance at Chennai turned out to be very humiliating for the nation. The team was not prepared fully by its coach Fahim Gul, a former international player.

It is high time that the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), headed by Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, holds an independent inquiry into the team’s dismal performance in Chennai. The three-member committee should consist of former world-renowned players who can probe into the abject failure of the team and submit its report within two weeks to the federation for further discussion.

None of the federation’s officials as well as its affiliated bodies should be allowed to become a member of the independent committee and the outcome of this probe should also be made public.