Muhammad Hamza khan defeated Mohamed Zakaria of Egypt in the final of World Junior Squash championship in Melbourne, Australia, to become the first Pakistani since the great Jansher Khan to win this coveted title. Hamza won 3-1 to revive the 37-year-old glory, and is now poised to follow in the footsteps of squash giants like Jahangir and Jansher, thus reviving the glorious squash traditions of Pakistan in times to come.

Hamza, a physically and mentally fit player had already won under-15 British Open, and given tough time to competitors like Yasin Shohdy of Egypt, Melvil Scianimanico of France, and Haris Qasim and Noor Zaman of Pakistan.

According to an estimate, around 15 million men and women in more than 120 countries play competitive squash. This wonderful geometrical game of speed, agility, endurance and coordination started in the Fleet Prison of England and later refined in its present form in 1830 in the Harrow School of London.

Many championship titles are played around the world but the British Open has a special significance. The first British Open was won by the Englishman Don Butcher in 1930.

Pakistan dominated the world of squash for decades. The most interesting fact is that most of our players learned the game as ball boys from the basic uncovered squash courts, who had limited coaching opportunities but plenty of time for practice and dedication.

Though many coaches have come forward to claim that they taught Hamza but all-time great Jahangir Khan has rightly credited the win of Hamza to his sheer hard work which is key to success.

Since claiming the World Junior Squash title Hamza has been comparing achievements of squash players with cricketers in Pakistan. My advice to the youngster is to focus on his game only, because he has yet to go a long way. Hamza should remember that it’s just the beginning of the long road to the pinnacle in the world of squash.

His win in the Junior World Championship is a motivation for many young boys and girls who look toward him as their role model and want to take up squash seriously. Those interested in playing squash must develop requisite physical fitness by paying special attention to developing cardiovascular fitness and developing calf muscles, hamstrings, quadriceps, adductors and hip flexors.

Most squash coaches are ex-players who coach the players according to their experience acquired during playing. Most of them play along with players but forget to transfer basic and finer points of the game to the players, which are necessary for their development to the next level. Instead of living in the glorious past of Nwankilli, let’s quickly walk through some basics of squash which could help the young players who want to take up the game seriously.

Squash is a physically demanding fast sport in which the right kind of footwear is of extreme importance because often the toe of the shoe will wear down before the rest of the shoe because it slides along the floor as one stretches for shots. Make sure that the soles of your shoes are non-marking and are light weight with strong grip, so that you can stretch without slipping or spraining your ankle.

Those taking up squash must develop good forehand and backhand swings. This comes from having solid fundamentals. A forehand drive is hit on the side of your body where you hold the racquet and a backhand drive is hit on the opposite side of your body.

Most beginners find forehand swing easier because its motion is similar to the one you use when you swing a golf club or hit a baseball. As you practise the correct swing, you will probably find that the motion on the backhand side is more natural. When you are hitting the ball on the forehand, keep in mind that the power is coming from the backswing. To achieve this, you should try to position yourself correctly because in all racquet games, occupying the correct position in the court is of vital importance.

Unlike the forehand, the backhand is often difficult for beginners. Players who don’t learn the basic principles of the backhand swing will constantly find it the weak part of their game. Remember that the power on the backhand should come from the backswing, not the follow-through.

Drills like shadow swings, target drives, hits from partner’s drop, feed and crosscourt rallies will help you develop good backhand. Remember to prepare your racquet early, keep your wrist cocked, bend your knees and keep your trunk and feet still as you swing through the shot. Swing quickly but always concentrate on allowing your shoulders, not your hips, to give power to your shot. And of course, never lose sight of the ball.

You must have witnessed top players move so effortlessly around the court that make the game look so easy. Let’s find out the secret of this smooth movement. Most of the champions like Hamza will credit it to hours of hard physical training. But that isn’t all. Their knowledge of correct court movement is the key to success. Correct movement will bring your basic game together; you will be able to position yourself better for your shots. You will be able to cover your opponent’s shots quickly and thus have more time to play your own.

Balance is the key. If you work on your court movement you will soon find that your balance and composure on court will improve. Good movement on court consists of a combination of quick short steps, shuffle steps and long strides to the ball. Just like a boxer a champion squash player must practice his or her footwork in the court both with and without the ball and learn to occupy the center or T of the squash court to be in advantageous position over the opponent.

The four keys to success when hitting the ball in the frontcourt are the T, balance, keeping your eye on the ball and the J shaped movement during backcourt movement.

Most squash coaches advise you to hit at least 80 percent of your shots to the back corners because hitting out of the backcourt is so difficult. If you can keep your opponent pinned you will always have easy opportunities to win points at the front of the court. To hit well out of the back corners, the players should maintain good foot movement and position and know when to strike the ball early and when to wait for it to bounce off the back wall, and have the confidence to bend down and strike the ball close to the floor.

As you play better opponents, you will notice that they will attack you by first driving you deep into the back corners and then look for opportunities to make you run from the back of the court to its front corners.

A successful squash player should also master the volley shot before the ball bounces on the floor. Players often use the volley around the middle of the court to cut off an opponent’s shot before it reaches the back of court. When you use it well, the volley speeds up the pace of the match, stretching your opponent to the limit and allowing little time to recover from the previous shot. In close and tight matches, it’s often key to victory.

Once you have mastered various strokes and movements on the court you learn how to control the rally in which the style of service holds great importance. The players after mastering service from both right and left boxes should learn the art of lob service, hard hit service, back hand serve and also understand how to correctly return your opponent service from both sides of the court.

The understanding and acquaintance of court geometry allows the player to get out of tricky situations. This is mostly done through boast which is a very versatile shot. The boast is acquired by hitting the drive into the side wall, and is therefore relatively.

One of the most frustrating experiences for a young, fit, aspiring squash player is to come unstuck against an old, overweight player who maneuvers the younger opponent to all corners using deft drops and high lobs. Both these shots complement each other perfectly because they require similar swings and are hit from similar positions, yet they end up in opposite areas of the court.

At the top level the drop shot is the main weapon used to win rallies. The biggest advantage of drop shot is that it forces the opponent to hurry into the front corner with very little time to play a good shot. You can develop your drop shot through slow drives with softer hands and slightly less backswing and very little follow through. Later on you should develop forehand straight kill, backhand kill, the cross court kill and the volley kill to master the game.

Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan and Hashim Khan of Pakistan ruled the squash world for decades. They were all physically robust, they mastered all possible strokes in the game of squash, they used to move to the T very early, they had great footwork and hand-eye coordination, and above all they disguised their shots by learning how to hold the shot to the very end, prepare the racquet early and were always decisive in the execution of their shots to perfection.

The road to success in squash is not easy and unlike cricket there is little room for factors like luck, pitch condition and weather. Those interested in playing squash must understand that it is an extremely tough individual sport that requires years of preparation and hard work but its dividends are extremely rewarding.

The squash history of Pakistan is full of extraordinary international squash players. However, we were unable to produce a real world class squash player after the departure of Jansher Khan from the international squash scene. Instead of improving the system, we had been focusing much on finding a readymade squash champion from the streets of Nawankilli.

The squash fraternity now pins its hopes on Hamza to become the new squash king of the world and bring back the lost squash grandeur to Pakistan. Pakistan Squash Federation must take all possible measures and extend its full support and cooperation to this rare talent for revival of squash in the country.

sdfsports@gmail.com