LAHORE:Punjab Governor, Sardar Latif Khan Khosa Monday Stressed upon the need to launch collective efforts for achieving lost glory in squash in which Pakistan ruled for decades. He was speaking at the prize distribution ceremony of Punjab National Jr squash championship here on Monday at PSA Complex.Also present on the occasion were Air Vice Marshall, Syed Razi Nawab,Senior Vice President,Pakistan Squash Federation,Malik Ahmad Ali Noon, President,Paunjab Squash Association who is also the Chairman Prime Minister’s Inspection Committee,former World number two,Gogo Alluaddin and Secretary,PSA,Tariq Farooq Rana.Re-calling squash history of Pakistan,the Punjab Governor briefly shed light on the achievements of former giants of the game.“ Great Hashim Khan pioneered the golden era of Khan’s in squash in which players from other parts of the country also contributed and unfortunately after the retirement of Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan,Pakistan failed to maintain its supremacy in the game “.“Our junior squash players are full of potential and if trained under a systemised programme, they can bring laurels for the country “,he said.He called upon the private business houses to come forward to extend support to promote squash as Government alone cannot achieve this objective without the partnership of sponsors.Praising the efforts of PSA for the cause of squash,he stressed the need to have adequate activity programme at junior level to unearth fresh talent.
“ I have seen very good standard of squash today and I hope that these youngsters will continue their endeavour to become future champions “,he asserted.Punjab Governor witnessed the U17 final between Syed Ali Bokhari from Lahore and Faraz Khan from Peshawar with keen interst.In the one sided affair,lasted just 35 minutes, Ali,coached by former squash legend Gogi Allauddin,beat Faraz 11-8,14-12,11-7.Some thrill and excitement came into the match when Faraz levelled at 10-10,pushing the second set to tie break which Ali won with greater anticipation and cross court shots.Later the Punjab Governor,AVM, Razi Nawab and President,PSA gave away prizes to the winners of various events.Following are the winners of different age groups, (U11) Mehran Javed (PAF) bt Hamas A Tarar (Sindh) 11/7,14/12,7/11,11/6. (U13) Ismail Rauf (PAF) bt Ahsan Ayaz (PAF) 12/10,10/12,14/12,11/8.(U15)Asim Khan (PB) bt Israr Ahmed (PB) 6/11,8/11,11/9,11/7,12/10.(U19)Nasir Iqbal (PAF) bt Sadam ul Haq (PAF) 11/5,11/4,11/4. (Girls) U15,Faiza Zaffar (Sindh) bt Monisa Nasir 9PB) 12/10,11/2,11/3. (U19), Zoya Khalid (ZTBL) bt Riffat Khan (ZTBL) 13/11,11/6,11/3,11/5.President,PSA, presented a souvenir to Punjab Governor and AVM,Razi Nawab – APP
