Squash kings not quite ruling badminton courts

For more than a decade it seemed as if anything they flicked with their wrist could turn to gold, such was Pakistan’s dominance in squash.

For more than a decade it seemed as if anything they flicked with their wrist could turn to gold, such was Pakistan’s dominance in squash. It’s a wonder then that badminton never caught the fancy of the nation with that illustrious a tradition in wrist work. Muraad Ali, Pakistan’s top shuttler here, possesses the back-swing preceding a toss that would do a squash pro proud and even wears the bandana. But Pakistan clearly has some catching up to do, as far as badminton goes.

Their national coach at the World Juniors, Mohammad Nayeem, had camped at Hyderabad before this tournament for close to a month, and believes he’s learnt more in that period than he had in the last decade. “We were at Gopi’s academy for 3-4 weeks, and he helped us a lot. Our players learnt a lot of things, mostly about preparation,” he says.

“India’s come up in a big way in the last few years, and their programmes are worth emulating. It’s also easier to train here, where we know the language, than in China or Indonesia,” Nayeem adds.

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Nayeem believes that the government’s disinterest and the utter lack of facilities has prevented the game from ever taking off. “Even squash is struggling because people are now indifferent,” he says.

Travel trouble

The country has a few seniors like Wajid and Zeeshan, who play on the circuits occasionally, but it’s only now that the juniors have started travelling abroad. The country’s experiment with an Austrian coach never worked.

“Sponsorship has also been a big problem. But maybe things will change now, and we can tap talent early. For the top level, though, you need years of preparation. Our camps are hardly a month long,” he rues.