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Pakistan hope Jansher can spark national revival
Fallen giants Pakistan are calling upon eight-time world champion Jansher Khan to help inspire the next generation of squash players and lead the country into a new golden age.
Fallen giants Pakistan are calling upon eight-time world champion Jansher Khan to help inspire the next generation of squash players and lead the country into a new golden age.
The 34-year-old, who recently announced his return to the professional circuit, is being asked to drag his weary limbs and suspect knees into battle once more with Pakistan squash officials hoping that a little bit of magic will rub off on the country's future players.
Mehboob Khan, who coached the squash legend, believes the veteran player is capable of making an impact once again on the game.
"Jansher has been working with youngsters in Islamabad and recently 120 of them came along to see him and receive some tips," said Mehboob here at the Asian Games where he coached Mansoor Zaman to a final defeat by world number seven Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia.
"I think if he can avoid injury then Jansher can get up to around number 15 in the world and if he does that we would all like to think that he can inspire more young players to come into the game.
"They will learn a lot from seeing him on the court and watching his skills."
Jansher counted eight World Open titles and six British Open crowns amongst his total of more than 100 international titles, and was the world number one for six years, but he retired in 2000 following two knee operations.
Before him, Jahangir Khan collected six World and ten British titles as Pakistan dominated the men's game.
However during Jansher's time out of the spotlight, Pakistan has suffered a collapse in its squash fortunes and Zaman is their highest ranked player standing at 25 in the world.
At last year's world team championship, an event which they had won six times in the past, the squad finished a miserable 11th place out of 24 nations.
Jansher's decision to quit in 2000 coincided with the start of the British Open that year which failed to feature a single Pakistani player in the main draw while, this summer, not one player managed to win a Commonwealth Games medal.
"The federation in Pakistan is working on the problem," said Mehboob.
"Some of the players aroud 19-years-old aren't very good but there are lots of very good young players around and we are concentrating on bringing along the 14 to 17-year-olds."
