Jahangir reasons out Pakistan’s decline
dubai — Back in the day, squash was synonymous with Pakistan and the Khans — Jahangir and Jansher. It was a sport that they learnt from the then British Empire and dominated for more than three decades.
But it has been a steep decline, or a void, so to speak, every since they left the scene and countries like Egypt have emerged as powerhouses. And legend Jahangir Khan felt that there are a many reasons why Pakistan players are lacking on the world stage.
Jahangir, who holds a plethora of records that still stands to this day, said that talent alone wasn’t enough.
“Our family had dominated for 30 years. But the problem these days I think is that the youngsters feel like just talent is enough. They think only with talent the can win.
“But I believe you have to put in the hours and work hard even if you are talented. And if they do even half of what we did, they can come up into the top level. I think they look for more short cuts and the easy way. That’s the problem,” said Jahangir, who is in Dubai as a guest for the season-ending PSA Dubai World Series Finals at the Dubai Opera.
“The opportunities and facilities are far better than our time and if they can start showing the results, they can achieve more. It is a matter of performing well. I feel sad because I wish I had this time, I could have done even better,” he added.
Jahangir, who won the British Open a record 10 times in a row from 1982 to 1993 and also holds the enviable record of being unbeaten in 555 consecutive matches over five years and eight months — a record in any sport, also said that a lack of international tournaments due to security issues, was a reason for Pakistan players not being able to make it to the next level.
“We have been struggling for the last couple of years because of the security reasons. We had $25,000 tournaments last couple of years but that has stopped as well. We have been trying really hard to get international events and we would love to have it. And this is only one of the reasons why our players are suffering because we don’t have any international events. We don’t get any exposure. That makes a difference in Pakistani squash as well,” said Jahangir, who was also the president of the World Squash Federation (WSF) from 2002 to 2008.
“Even if you academies and junior programmes, if you can’t have any events there, it is a setback. With international exposure, players can look up to these present stars and learn. If you see, Dubai having this tournament, it itself gives a lot of exposure to the game and whoever wants to take up squash,” added Jahangir.
Jahangir, a six-time World Open champion, was also vocal on squash being included in the Olympics. “We came very close during the London Games and we were shortlisted from five sports to two sports and squash and karate were there. And I almost felt like we will get in. But maybe the voting procedures or the support from the executive members of the IOC, we couldn’t get in. I feel it was a bit unfair for squash where you have 185 nations who are official member of the WSF and when you have the circuit all around the world and you have more than 25 to 30 million players playing every day. It was surprising. As a player, I felt like playing at the Olympics but it never happened.”