ISLAMABAD: Expressing his dismay over Pakistan’s exclusion from the World Junior Squash Championships, the sport’s legend Qamar Zaman on Wednesday said the country’s absence from the event was the result of a well thought-out plot.

“This [Pakistan’s exclusion] is a conspiracy. Our boys had undergone very hard training and were looking sharp. They were fully capable of clinching the title but they have been deprived of that,” Qamar said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the 18th World Junior Championships, managed by the World Squash Federation (WSF), commenced at the Flemish Squash Centre in Herentals, Belgium on Wednesday.

Pakistan’s Danish Atlas Khan and Nasir Iqbal, both 17-year-olds from Peshawar, were originally named as the two 3/4 seeds. Danish is the reigning Asian junior champion, with three PSA World Tour titles to his credit, while Iqbal, a former Asian U-15 champion, already boasts two Tour titles. But they were forced to withdraw from the July 13-17 event following problems in obtaining the visas.

Qamar said it was really disappointing to see Pakistan players not featuring in the event, especially when they had fair chances of winning.

He reckoned the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) should not be blamed for the players’ exclusion from the world junior event as it had selected the squad for the said contest well in time besides intimating the WSF about the same.

“I have come to know that the PSF – despite its repeated reminders to the WSF – got visa letters from them on June 30. Thus, it was too late for them [PSF] to obtain visas from the Belgium Embassy,” Qamar remarked.

He believed the WSF was responsible for Pakistan’s omission from the global competition, urging the PSF must lodge a strong protest with the game’s world governing body.

However, he was of the view that Belgian Embassy in Pakistan too had not treated players fairly and denied them visas.

“I think keeping in view importance of the event they [Belgian Embassy] should have accommodated the Pakistan players,” he said.—Agencies