Wednesday, June 03, 2009
KARACHI: Most of Pakistan’s squash players faced a slump in their rankings for the month of June because of no international action.
According to rankings published by Professional Squash Association (PSA) for the month of June — Mansoor Zaman fell two places down to No 35 while Yasir Butt slumped five places down and now sits at No 55.
Waqar Mehboob — who had been the biggest mover in the world rankings in the month of March after a series of outstanding performances in Malaysia, has now slumped five places to number 79.
“The game of squash moves very fast and a player must feature in international tournaments to maintain one’s ranking. And now WSF (World Squash Federation) has barred Pakistan from holding international tournaments which also went against local players,” Waqar told PPI.
WSF decision came as a big blow to Pakistan Squash, for not allowing Pakistan to hold international events. The decision is questionable since top squash nation Egypt, Malaysia and other Muslim squash playing nations have little or no reservation for playing in Pakistan.
Top Pakistani squash players Aamir Atlas and Farhan Mehboob maintained their rankings at No 15 and No 16 respectively. However, seasoned Shahid Zaman leaped five places up in the rankings and now sits at the 70th spot.
Shahid Zaman seeded third reached the final of inaugural FASSP St Luke’s Squash Open in New Canaan in the US state of Connecticut final after beating compatriot Arshad Iqbal Burki in quarters and unseeded Scotsman Alan Clyne by 11-6, 11-13, 11-8, 11-5 score in pre-finals of $8,000 men’s PSA World Tour event.
Arshad Iqbal Burki fall five places down and now occupy 98th place. Shamsul Islam Khan moved three places up and is now ranked 100th. Dubai based Khawaja Adil Maqbool moved a place up and now sits at no 66.
Source: The news
