Young female squash players in Pakistan have plenty of hurdles to overcome en route to success — but to be deaf and mute adds layers of challenge and complexity that would put many off even trying.
Despite her severe communication problems, 19-year-old Sana Bahadar from Peshawar has already racked up a long list of national titles, was ranked no.1 in every junior age group and was recently selected to represent Pakistan at April’s World U23 Championships in Karachi.
Her father Sher Bahadar, her team of coaches and a famous mentor, Qamar Zaman, have formed a support network around her, finding their own ways to communicate and gradually building her confidence.
Sana’s daily experience since birth is complete silence and an inability to communicate via speech. She attended a special school for children with disabilities and couldn’t read and write until she was 15. Her father admits to having been “extremely worried about her future.”
In 2016, when Sana was 10 years old, an ex-national hockey coach called Rauf Khan visited her school and encouraged her father to get her into sport. He introduced Sher and Sana to Zaman — the legendary former world no.1 and British Open champion and now Vice-President of the Pakistan Squash Federation — who took Sana under his wing.
Squash has been the vehicle through which she has found self-esteem and personal growth. As her father says: “She has many achievements, however for me the biggest achievement is the confidence level she has gained from playing squash.”
Communicating through her father, Sana tells Squash Player: “Every person can perhaps imagine what it feels like being not able to hear and speak. What I feel is, although it has not held me back, it has affected me in many ways.
“In training, I have to keep eye on each and every movement of my trainer and partners. In matches, I don’t hear anything from the crowd, referee or impact of the ball, especially when the opponent hits the ball and the racket strings make a sound which gives you a signal how that ball is played.
“On a daily basis I find it very difficult to communicate my feelings and my thoughts to other people. Most of the time I feel like I have been discussed by my coaches and other players but I fail to understand what they are actually talking about. But if they speak specifically to me then somehow I understand the meaning from the movement of their lips.”
Sana’s father is her main source of communication with others. She explains: “He understands exactly what I want to say and what I am feeling about different situations.
“He also communicates the words of my fellow players and coaches to me by using sign language. I’ve now got some friends who understand my sign language too and they are also able to respond in a same way.
“The biggest advantage to being deaf is that I don’t hear negative things from any of my competitors or other people.”
Sana trains at the PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex in Peshawar and benefits from court time provided by the Pakistan Squash Federation, but admits other sources of funding are limited and sponsorships are hard to come by.
She has already played 10 PSA Tour events, exceeding her ranking in five of them, and has ambitions to become a full-time professional. However, like any player making the tricky transition from juniors to the senior ranks, she has found it tough.
“I was a bit frustrated and hopeless when I turned 19, because I had to swim in the bigger ocean of PSA,” she says. “To survive it is difficult and very, very expensive to travel and play PSA events in different countries without any sponsors.
“That’s why the World U23 Championships was a life-changing and full-of-hope tournament for me. I have met the best players from different countries and got the opportunity to learn from them.”
There is a precedent for a deaf player to reach the pinnacle of the women’s game: Rebecca Macree, who was born deaf, was part of England’s World Team Championship-winning team in 2000, reached world no.7 and won eight titles on the WISPA Tour.
Although Sana and Sher are unaware of Macree, they certainly want her to follow the same path. “My ambition is to get into the top 10 and become first ever player in the top 10 with such disabilities [sic]. I also want to become a top player to make my father proud to have a daughter like me. I want to support him in his old age.”
