After a long time, Pakistan, which had ruled the world of squash like no other country ever has, received some good news. Hamza Khan won the 2023 World Junior Squash title in Melbourne, Australia. It was 35 years ago that the legendary Jansher Khan had bagged this title for Pakistan.

It was in 2020 that Hamza Khan had won the British Junior Under-15 Open Championship title. In an interview with him published in Eos back then, I had termed his success as bringing “Glimmers of Hope” for the country.

The boy from Peshawar, whose father is a first cousin of the former world champion Qamar Zaman, was already aiming high. His precocious talent had seen him appear at the 2019 Men’s World Junior Squash Championships — an under-19 event — in Malaysia, too. “At 14, I was one of the youngest competitors in Malaysia and I won the first round match in straight games. In the second round, I led two games to nil but my much more experienced rival prevailed,” he says about that event.

“Success at the British Junior Under-15 Open Championship and the promising show at the Men’s World Junior Squash Championships did a world of good for my confidence,” he tells Eos. “I was hopeful to win the under-17 event at the next British Junior Open and also put on a good show at the World Junior Squash Championship.”

Young Hamza Khan, who recently won the World Junior Squash Championship, has had to fight many battles in order to reach where he is today

But then Covid-19 intervened. The pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the British Junior Open in 2021, while the World Junior Championship couldn’t be held in 2020 or 2021.

Hamza’s progress was also hindered in another way. “In Peshawar, I practised at the Hashim Khan squash complex, which was closed down due to Covid-19. My father requested the officials to let me practise daily for about 30 minutes there, but his request was turned down.”

Hamza’s father Niazullah Khan, has always been his biggest supporter. “My father then converted one of the rooms in our small home into a mini-court for me to practise there. He also made me run regularly on the roads, as the grounds and parks were also out of bounds,” says Hamza.

Hamza’s maternal uncle, Shahid Zaman — a former world No 14 — has been coaching in the USA since 2009. As the world returned to normalcy, Shahid Zaman arranged for a wild card for Hamza at the Equinox Boston Open in September/October 2021.

“I reached the quarter-finals after defeating world number 130 and 72,” says Hamza. “In the quarter-finals, I was match ball up against the world number 114 in the fourth as well as the fifth games, but I couldn’t close it out in either of them.

“Still, while in the US, I entered four satellite tournaments and won all. My ranking rose to 220.”

With an improved ranking, 2022 saw Hamza entering the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Challenger Tour tournaments. “My first major professional tournament at home was the PSF-International Squash Circuit-1, in late February of 2022. I defeated Farhan Zaman, ranked more than 100 places above, in straight games in the semi-final. The final against Farhan Mahboob, a former world No 16, went to the wire and I ended up second-best in five games,” he says.

Meanwhile, the rising star was offered a five-year contract by the Pakistan Army to represent it in national events.

Hamza needed frequent participation in PSA events to move up in world rankings, but there were obstructions.

“In June 2022, I was in the USA playing in the PSA tournaments when the Pakistan Squash Federation [PSF] called me for the Asian Junior Championships in Thailand. But I couldn’t play in Thailand because my name was already in the draws of the event I was featuring in. PSF sent me a letter warning that my name would not be sent for participation in the forthcoming World Juniors if I didn’t return for the Asian Junior Championships.”

Of course, Hamza returned to Pakistan immediately. “I reported to the Squash Federation and my passport was taken from me, as I was informed it was needed for arranging visas for the forthcoming British Junior Open in July 2022.” Ironically, the PSF failed to arrange visas for any player for the 2022 British Open.

“The world rankings, which came out in August 2022 put me at 148, the highest of my career. The same month, it was the World Junior Open in the French city of Nancy. I progressed to the semi-final before losing to England’s Finnlay Withington, after five games.”

The PSF’s continued requirements, such as at the Asian Senior Team Championships in October 2022 and the Asian Junior Team in early February 2023, forced Hamza to pull out of several PSA events. At the 2023 British Open Junior Under-19 Open Championship in January, Hamza was unlucky to again go down to the eventual champion Withington, the home favourite, in the semi-final in five games.

“It was sheer misfortune,” says Hamza. I had entered the tournament carrying a groin injury sustained in Pakistan during the nationals in December, but had not been much bothered by it. In the semi-final, I led 2-1. During the fourth game, a diving effort aggravated the injury and I lost the last two games, 2-11 and 4-11.”

The PSA/PSF imbroglio culminated in a strong action by the Professional Squash Association. The PSA imposed a 13-week ban on Hamza Khan’s participation in international events, lasting till May 15, for failing to honour his commitments, and his failure to get his passport in time to figure in the PSA events.

This resulted in a downward spiral in Hamza’s world rankings, taking him down to 281.

Despite all these setbacks, the 18-year-old entered the 2023 World Juniors with a determined mind. “I knew it was my last chance to win the event,” he says.

It is astonishing to note that Hamza was without any coach or physiotherapist in Melbourne. Only a PSF official, Aftab Qureshi, accompanied him, as the manager. In sharp contrast, the Egyptians even had a psychologist for their players. But in Pakistan’s case, the PSF had not even provided the boy with a tracksuit. He only had three match shirts.

Perhaps they didn’t expect him to progress much in the tournament. Even his rackets had been bought by his father. Hamza had been given just 100 dollars and the manager only 200 dollars for dealing with their expenses. Hence, his meals mostly consisted of potato chips.

Dr Shahroze Khan is a Pakistani physician living in Australia for 15 years. A former Sindh No 1 in squash, Dr Khan is still an active player on the masters’ circuit and is always ready to help Pakistani squash players coming to Australia. When he heard about Hamza, he stepped in to make sure that the boy got to eat a proper nutritious diet at least.

“It is the manager’s job to arrange a practice court for his players, but Hamza had no such facility,” Dr Khan tells Eos. “On his continuous pleading before the quarter-finals, the manager arranged practice sessions for him. On the day of the final, too, the manager arrived in the arena after the match had started. Even during the match, he was busy with his mobile almost throughout.”

Hamza had to fight many hard battles on the road to victory. He was fully extended to five games in the round of 16. In the semi-final, he survived a remarkable recovery from Melvil Scianimanico of France to scrape into the final by the skin of his teeth. Scianimanico fought back from two games and match ball down, but Hamza prevailed in the decider.

Hamza’s opponent in the final was Mohamed Zakaria of Egypt, the most dominating squash country of this century. In the first game, Hamza saved a match ball but lost 10-12. He could easily have been down two games. Twice Hamza faced the match ball in the second game. He survived to win 14-12. Then, a different story ensued. The boy from Peshawar completely dominated and ran through the next two games, 11-3 and 11-6, before he knelt on the court and wept uncontrollably.

After his victory, as is the norm here, Hamza received congratulatory messages and announcement of monetary gifts from all quarters, including from the highest offices of the land. No one has uttered even a word of apology about how shabbily they treated a player who went on to win laurels for the country.

The writer is a freelance sports journalist based in Lahore.
He tweets @IjazChaudhry1 and can be reached at ijaz62@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 6th, 2023