Pakistani squash players are unhappy with the glass floors of the squash courts at a posh club in the South Indian city of Chennai where the 2007 edition of the World Men’s Team Squash Championships is currently under progress.
A top Pakistan squash Federation (PSF) official told that the national players were complaining about the risky nature of the glass floors even after crushing hosts India 3-0 in a pool match.
PSF secretary Shamsul Haq said that the Pakistani players feel they were at greater risk of sustaining injuries on the slippery floors as compared to standard wooden surfaces. “We believe our players have a point because it’s difficult to play on glass floors when the climate is hot and humid and the players sweat a lot which makes the surface very slippery,” said the PSF official.
Pakistan No 1 Aamir Atlas, who won en epic five-game encounter against his Indian counterpart Saurav Ghausal, told his team officials that he didn’t feel comfortable playing on the Chennai courts.
However, Shams pointed out that the Pakistanis will try to continue giving their best in the World Championships as the courts are the same for all competing teams. “But we don’t see a point in having glass floors in our part of the world where there is too much humidity.
“It is okay to have such courts in Europe where the climate is cooler but not here,” he stressed. He said that Pakistan coach Fahim Gul has decided to give his top string Aamir Atlas a rest day when Pakistan meet minnows Bermuda in their final pool match.
Aamir featured in both of Pakistan’s 3-0 wins over Kenya and India and the coach believes that his best player needs some time off before Sunday’s knockout round. Aamir, a world number 28, was made to work really hard by Ghausal (No 47) in what was one of the most exciting matches of the day. He won 12-10, 11-6, 11-13, 6-11, 11-9.
In his place, Pakistan will field Lahore’s Yasir Butt in the match against Bermuda. Six-time champions Pakistan are hoping to at least reach the last-four stage of the World Championships this year after having failed to get there in their last previous five attempts.
Pakistan won their last title in 1993 on home soil in Karachi when legends Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan teamed up to give them a memorable triumph over Australia in the final. In the next edition held in Cairo in 1995, Pakistan reached the final.
But since then they have been reduced to the role of underdogs and a quarter-final appearance in 2005 in Islamabad is their best performance in the biennial event in recent years. In this edition, after consecutive wins over Kenya and India, the Pakistanis are almost certain to top their pool and are expected to face Wales in the pre-quarter-finals. “Wales are beatable and we expect our team to also win the quarter-final and reach the last-four,” said Shams.
