WSF’s influence waning: ASF

KARACHI: Asian Squash Federation (ASF) in its Referees Report 2016 released on Wednesday admitted that World Squash Federation’s influence is waning with regards to referees against the pressure of Professional Squash Association (PSA).

“The number of Asian referees in the list of WSF Referees has remained 6 from the previous year. The number of WSF Referees in the world has declined marginally from 20 in the previous year to 19 in the current year.

“It will be increasingly challenging to achieve the target of 12 WSF Referees, which was set some 4 years ago. PSA is stamping its authority by appointing ‘PSA Referees’ for major events, with WSF’s influence waning in the wake.

“PSA appears to be achieving its target of having a small group of preferred referees, officiating top level matches on a regular basis. There is a big question mark on what this means for the development of referees in Asia,” stated Director Referee ASF Munir Shah in the report.

Nonetheless, he added, ASF was focusing on the development of National Referees to become Regional Referees by pursuing its programme of improving their competence, knowledge and match management abilities through greater assessment exercises.

He said that a total of 13 clinics were conducted in 2016, which were attended by 413 participants. The venues were Singapore, Naypyidaw, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bandung, Dalian, Macau, Shiraz and Colombo.

“Asia was chosen by WSF to carry out the WSF Ambassadors Programme in Dalian and Macau on June 13 and 19, respectively. On the refereeing front, Mohd Abdullah Arrffan and Robert of Singapore conducted two clinics at these venues,” stated Munir.

He hoped that referee clinics would continue to be the staple diet before any major championship or assessment exercise because they provided an opportunity for referees to interact with one another and get updated on the rules and their interpretation.

The current WSF Referees from Asia are: Mohammad Fayyaz (Hong Kong, China), Anthony So (Hong Kong, China), Yogendra Singh (India), Srikanth Seshadri (India), Jamshed Gul (Pakistan), and Tahir Khanzada (Pakistan).

Meanwhile, ASF achieved an unprecedented 20 assessment exercises in 2016.

The total number of assessments involving Asian referees conducted in Asia from 2011-2016 is 710.

Munir stated that the ASF would persevere in implementing the Competency-Based Training & Assessment Programme for WSF, Regional and National Referees. The programme was endorsed for adoption by all member countries in 2011.  Currently there are 19 Regional Referees in Asia.