Where cricket and hockey is almost a religion, Pakistan came with some hope in the SCG Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Bangkok but once again returned home disappointed and empty handed.
It is the same old story that has hindered Pakistan badminton from progressing – lack of budget, training and facilities – which are the main cause of the sport in the country.
Pakistan did not compete in the mixed team event in the 19th edition of the Asian meet held at the CPB Badminton and Sports Science Training Center in Bangkok. However, Pakistan were well represented in the individual men's events.
The team was led Pakistan's best hope of winning a medal in Bangkok – 17-year-old Zohaib Khan Khalil – who is competing in his third Asian junior meet.
Zohaib reached the pre-quarters in 2014 and the quarter-finals last year. This gave him hope and confidence that he would at least improve on his previous achievements. Instead, he received a rude jolt in the second round, losing to Macau's Lam Hou Him (15-21, 15-21) after getting a bye in the first round.
"I did not expect this to happen. I had targeted of reaching the semi-finals at least. It is disappointing to go out this early," said a dejected Zohaib on his defeat to the Macau player.
In other singles matches Shameer Iftikhar also had a bye in the first round and lost 14-21, 11-21 to Thailand's 5th seed Pachaarapol Nipornram in the second round while Ahmer Jalal also went out in the second round with a 5-21, 9-21 defeat to Japan's Kyohei Yamashita. He too had a bye in the first round. Shehroz Jamil did no better and was shown the exit in the first round by China's Wong Hongyang (21-4, 21-7).
Ahmer-Zohaib and Shameer-Shehroz also teamed up for the men's doubles but failed to make any headway.
"The lack of training, lack of finance and practice apart from the lack of training facilities are our main drawback," said Zohaib.
The four players who donned Pakistan colours in the Asian Junior Championships in Bangkok envy countries like China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for the attention that is given to badminton.
"We will be happy to come and train in these countries where they not only have the facilities but also the coaches and trainers to take care of your needs," said Shameer.
Recently three senior Pakistan badminton players – Abdul Basit, Faisal Saeed and Shahid Ahmed – trained for a month at the Ampang Jaya Badminton Center in Malaysia under coach Ho Khek Meng.
