Former World Champion Jansher Khan gears up to promote squash in Pakistan
Former squash World Champion Jansher Khan has expressed his willingness to play his role in the promotion of squash in Pakistan.
Report by Ijaz Ahmad;
Former squash World Champion Jansher Khan has expressed his willingness to play his role in the promotion of squash in Pakistan.
Jansher Khan assured of this to the Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr. Kazim Niaz when he met with him in his office along with his younger son Ali Sher Khan, an Under-19 Professional Squash player himself.
Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz praised the services of Jansher Khan, saying that for 50 years the rule of squash worldwide has been with Pakistan and especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which is a matter of pride.
Dr Kazim Niaz expressed deep regret that after 18 years of retirement of Jansher Khan, we still have not found any subsequent player like him due to which Pakistan does not have a single players in the top 100 in squash.
The control of Pakistan for 50 years in the squash field around the world ended with the retirement of Jansher Khan, the Chief Secretary added. Expressing his desire to take advantage of Jansher Khan's experience in resurrecting Squash in Pakistan and regaining the lost prestige, he assured Jansher Khan the launch of Squash Academies in all tribal districts and other divisional headquarters of the province.
He said the govt is very keen on promoting the squash in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and that is why a total of 24 squash courts are going to be constructed in the current fiscal year. Dr. Kazim Niaz said the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continues to play its role and will do so in the future.
During the meeting, Chief Secretary Dr. Kazim Niaz further said that he is ready to play his full role in building a training academy for promoting squash in the tribal areas and their cooperation in this regard will continue.
The meeting decided to take immediate steps to promote squash. The bodies also discussed holding maximum tournaments and providing excellent facilities to players, including rebuilding existing squash courts, squash academies and to train junior players.
Jansher Khan, the crowned king of the squash world for more than 10 years, said that the role of the provincial government and the Chief Secretary office for the restoration of sports and of course squash is praiseworthy.
He hoped that this valuable role for squash would continue in the future as well. Speaking to Ali Sher Khan, the younger son of former World Champion Jansher Khan, Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz instructed him to follow his father's footsteps and work hard with passion to make his father and country proud on international level.
Dr. Kazim Niaz himself has also been a good squash player and knows squash very well. Jansher Khan said:
“it is my dream to witness champions like me who had carry forwarded green flag over the world and remained undisputed king of squash for decades.”
