HONG KONG: Pakistan’s silver medalist Noor Zaman and the British Junior Open winner Nasir Iqbal’s stellar performance led Pakistan to secure a place in the knockout round of the World Team Squash Championship with a 2-1 victory in the group-stage match against Hong Kong.
In an important match, Zaman secured a hard-fought 3-2 win over Hong Kong’s Henry Leung with scores of 7-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4 and 11-6, racing to victory in just 44 minutes.
Meanwhile, Iqbal crushed Chi Him Wong and achieved a dominant 3-0 victory with scores of 11-5, 11-5, and 11-5 in just 31 minutes, putting Pakistan firmly on track for victory.
Pakistan’s Asim Khan, however, succumbed to a narrow 3-2 defeat against Hong Kong’s Alex Lau with the scores of 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 11-13, and 11-4.
Despite Khan’s narrow 3-2 loss, Pakistan edged past Hong Kong to secure their spot in the knockout round.
After back-to-back victories over Peru and Hong Kong, respectively, Pakistan will take on Italy in their final group match of the championship.
Pakistan won the World Team Squash Championship six times in ten appearances. Their most recent victory was in 1993.
Earlier in November, Asim and Noor competed in the recently concluded Professional Squash Association (PSA) Cape Town Open.
Faizan Lakhani Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.
