he World Squash Federation (WSF) has given a clean chit to Pakistan’s World Junior Squash champion Hamza Khan after Egypt had raised questions over his age.
The WSF said on Friday that it found no evi-dence that Hamza Khan’s age was different from the one listed on his official passport.
Hamza had defeated Egypt’s Muhammad Za-karya in the final to win the World Junior title in 2023. Following Hamza’s win, the Egypt Squash Federation questioned the age of the Pakistani player and requested WSF to investigate the matter.
“After the Egyptian Squash Federation request, the WSF began extensive consultation with experts, including the WSF Medical Commission and the International Olympic Committee.”
“This consultation found no evidence that the age of 2023 WSF World Junior Squash Champion Hamza Khan of Pakistan is different from the one listed on his official passport,” the WSF statement said.
The statement further added that it has been noted that Hamza Khan has competed in official international junior events for a number of years and has had the same date of birth registered on every occasion.
“The WSF has been advised that there is no medically recognised procedure that can measure an individual’s age without a significant margin of error,” the statement highlights.
The WSF has further said that the Egyptian Squash Federation and the Pakistan Squash Federation have been informed of the outcome of this investigation, and the matter is now considered closed.
Hamza Khan’s journey
Peshawar boy Hamza has a strong squash pedigree. Talking to Eos in 2020 about his early journey, Hamza gave credit to his father Niazullah. “My father had represented Islamia College and Peshawar University in inter-college and inter-university sports. He used to take me to the Hashim Khan Squash Complex where he would coach me. I usually practised for half an hour like the other visitors there.
