- Khan beat Egypt’s Mohamed Zakaria to bag championship title.
- Teenager bemoans there’s “extra help for cricket” in Pakistan.
- Athlete wants “monetary help” to excel in sport.
After his breakthrough victory for Pakistan within the WSF World Junior Championship in Melbourne, champion Hamza Khan expressed pleasure however lamented the shortage of help throughout the early days of his profession and when he was going by way of a foul patch.
Khan, on Sunday, claimed the championship title bringing it to Pakistan after a 37-year hiatus following the footsteps of former champions Sohail Qaisar and Jansher Khan in 1982 and 1986, respectively.
He beat Egypt’s Mohamed Zakaria to reclaim the nation’s long-lost reign on the earth of squash.
Talking throughout an interview for Geo Information programme, Geo Pakistan, the 17-year-old athlete mentioned: “They are saying squash does not get sufficient help as a result of there aren’t any gamers. There are squash gamers in Pakistan, however they want help.”
He mentioned his father was teaching and supporting him by way of his ups and downs, whereas others left him alone.
“Now that I’ve received, everybody is looking me and reminding how they taught me the game. They need to have earlier considered holding my hand throughout low days. But it surely was simply my father who supported me,” Khan shared the challenges of throughout his profession.
He bemoaned that there’s extra help for cricket throughout the nation and no one backs squash. The athlete sought “help” from the federal government when requested about being beneath stress after the main win.
“We’re very weak financially. For example, once we ask the federation for tickets to take part within the [Professional Squash Association] PSA event, they refuse,” he mentioned, including that the federation cites the excessive price of tickets as a motive for refusal and solely helps gamers as much as the junior stage.
The athlete mentioned he was solely accompanied by the director of the Pakistan Squash Federation and that there was no coach, physio or participant with him throughout the event. He added that the federation cited an absence of funds for not taking the coach alongside.
“It will be important for the coach and physio to be with the participant in case of an damage,” he shared.
{The teenager} mentioned he labored actually onerous forward of the event with help from the Pakistan Military and Pakistan Air Pressure. “My supervisor Main Suleman supported me rather a lot. I had aimed in my coronary heart to interrupt this report,” he mentioned.
Khan mentioned he was the one participant from Pakistan and was “beneath plenty of stress” for being the one consultant for the nation on the world stage, whereas different nations had at the least six gamers.
The younger sportsman mentioned it’s a huge deal that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan have prolonged their help in the direction of him, however what he wants for the time being is “monetary help”.
“One racket’s worth is Rs40,000. So if one breaks whereas enjoying, I haven’t got 4 to 5 saved spare. Aside from that, our weight loss program too,” he talked about talking about his wants as a squash participant.
Sharing his pleasure about his win, Khan mentioned he could not imagine changing into the world champion. “I referred to as my mother and father first [after winning].”