Pak squash referees lagging behind for lack of courses

KARACHI: Pakistan has not conducted any squash refereeing course since 2010, which is set to create problems for the country considering the World Squash Federation’s plans of standardising the referee curriculum universally.

“Pakistan conducted the last refereeing course back in 2010. Now, almost 11 years have passed and this is the reason our refereeing is currently in a poor shape,” said a WSF Referee while talking to ‘The News’.

He added that the country’s referees cannot further skip refereeing courses as WSF has a grand plan for the referees to be implemented through its World Squash Officiating (WSO) programme.

It is to be noted that WSO will have five levels of referees: from club level to WSF level. Once the WSO is in place, referees across the world will be registered with the Squash Personal Identification Number (SPIN) and will be categorised according to their current status.

Also, the WSO plans to standardise the referee curriculum universally and the WSO website will provide videos and literature for all the referees.

“In this regard, the WSO has already started interaction with national squash federations across the world,” said the referee, adding that the WSO is almost ready to be rolled out.

It is pertinent to mention here that only two referees from Pakistan have been on the WSF panel for the last five years.

The referee said that Tahir Khanzada had been heading the directorate of referees of Pakistan Squash Federation for the last many years and he was even made Vice President by the federation.