—Amjad Iqbal, coach
CONFIDENT: Abdulla al-Tamimi is coming up very well. In next three years or so, he would be among the world’s top 20, if not top 10, players, predicts Iqbal. Photos by Nasar TK
By Umer Nangiana
Coming from a generation of Pakistanis who reigned supreme in the world of squash in the last two decades of the last century, he has devoted his life to the four-walled box.
Choosing squash over a career in engineering, he pursued the game passionately, but owing to certain distractions, he could not attain the zenith.
Played by more than 20 million people around the world and rated as the number one healthiest sport, squash demands 100 percent commitment in order for a player to shine at the highest level.
For the past few years, however, Amjad Iqbal has been helping others achieve the glory he missed. He is a member of the elite team of coaches at Qatar Squash Federation (QSF) since 1997.
Related to legendary Pakistani player Qamar Zaman (brother-in-law), Iqbal over the years has helped train and polish raw talent for squash in Qatar.
In the process, he has produced players who, under his able hands, have either made their mark or are well on their way to make the cut at the top level.
“One of the best players that I produced was Saud al-Sulaiti, who had won the third position in West Asian championship — a first for a Qatari. He remained No. 2 in the Gulf region. He was directly trained by me,” Iqbal, tells Community at the QSF training facility, visibly excited at the mention of his achievement.
Recently, a number of junior players from the team under his training were inducted by Aspire for further training and world-class grooming. In a tournament recently organised by QSF on the lines of a league, Iqbal’s team of five players, Um Salal, won the gold medal.
They defeated seven teams organised in the form of clubs. Squash is yet to reach the club level here and Iqbal believes the day that happens, the level of the sport in Qatar would go drastically up.
Before coming to Qatar, Iqbal was coaching Malaysia’s national team where he spent more than three years. For a coach, he says, the most important aspect is to be a player himself in order for him to understand a player’s training needs.
A committee formed by World Squash Federation in partnership with Asian Squash Federation offers Coaching Training levels. The 3rd is the highest qualification.
“Currently, I am the only coach in Qatar who is Level 3 coach and this is a distinction,” Iqbal tells Community. He also has offers to coach coaches which he might consider sometime in future.
Although squash in Qatar is not on a sound footing, Iqbal believes, the country has no dearth of talent. In fact, he says no country lacks talent. The only thing lacking in most cases is the players’ individual commitment to the game and thus their consistency. He maintains he has seen many talented young players here.
“Currently, we have a very good player named Abdulla al-Tamimi. He is very talented. His family has allowed him to choose squash as a career. QSF and Aspire Academy have helped him and he is now a full-time squash player,” Iqbal informs.
Tamimi has already secured a position in the world’s top 100 and travels around the world, playing professional squash. “
Compared to Pakistan or other squash countries, players in Qatar did not have any role models like Jahangir Khan or Jansher Khan to follow. The sport has not been much popular here so finding consistency has been one problem for players here,” says Iqbal.
“In Pakistan, they would have inspirational players before them so they would work hard. And those big names also helped emerging players in Pakistan. Also, the level of competition is different from other squash playing countries such as Egypt, England or Pakistan. So the players have to put in extra effort,” Iqbal explains.
“If you take Egypt, for example, they have so many good players, competition level is very high and they have a lot of tournaments. In such environment, good players emerge easily and the not-so-good are filtered,” the QSF coach points out.
Here, the players leave squash after Grade 12 and move on to jobs or further studies and do not commit to the game. Yet, there have been many talented players and many more are coming up. QSF and Aspire combined are putting in a lot of effort to produce promising players, Iqbal says.
“Al-Tamimi is coming up very well. In next three years or so, he would be among the world’s top 20, if not top 10, players. Considering the kind of weather here and the background of squash, top 20 will be great,” says Iqbal.
He also mentions Abdur Rehman al-Maliki, who was also one of Qatar’s best players. However, the focus at this time is on junior players in order to form a pool. He names Hamad al Hamri, Abdul Aziz al-Ishaq, Rashid al-Harib as emerging players. The latter is trained by him, and he hopes to see him eventually emerge as one of the best players.
Iqbal’s own son Syed Azlan Amjad is also in Aspire. He ranks as No. 2 in Qatar in both U-19 and senior level. He wants to see Azlan represent Qatar in the near future. Recently, he secured the ninth position in Asian Juniors.
Speaking about the recent decline in the sport back home, Iqbal holds a lack of sponsorship for players and planning at the national level as responsible.
“The most important thing in the game is that you should have a sponsor and be able to travel. This is what lacks in Pakistan at the moment,” says Iqbal, adding, “I still remember the time when I used to play squash, PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) was the sponsor for most of the players.”
He believes PIA could still play a vital role in the revival of the game in Pakistan and enable players to get tickets to travel to participate in tournaments around the world.
As a player, Iqbal played mostly at the national level. He went to Far-East Asian countries and played Singapore Open, Malaysian Open and others but could not produce better results. Reasons were many, chief among them his and his family’s focus on his studies.
He recalls the time he was playing in national championship, which coincided with his intermediate examination and his parents were worried he might not pass. Iqbal, however, passed it with distinction, securing admission in an engineering college.
“So I remained distracted where pursuing squash as a career was concerned. However, I always managed to reach quarter-finals or semi-final stages at most national level championships,” he says. Besides playing, he also participated in organising tournaments besides refereeing some games.
After completing studies, he never found personal satisfaction in the engineering jobs he landed. The passion for squash finally, took over when he decided to move to Malaysia to undertake a coaching stint.
Arriving in Qatar in 1997 at QSF’s invitation, Iqbal remembers it was a small set up with a small-scale department looking after squash affairs. It now boasts world-class facilities.
Iqbal says he has enjoyed his stay in Qatar the most among all the countries he has visited or stayed in. “Frankly, Qatar has been the best country that I have chosen to stay in. People here are very friendly and respectful. We are given respect in the federation as well. All our seniors here are very supportive,” he says.
With the help of the top management, they are planning to further boost the level of squash. From September onwards, they will have fresh intake of players and also give more time to players already training with the QSF, which would produce better results, Iqbal hopes.
“Asian Games are out next target where we hope to secure winning positions there,” says the determined coach.
