Squash: Danish knocked out after ‘biased’ umpiring

Pakistani loses to Shorbagy in world junior squash semis.

KARACHI: Egypt’s defending champion Marwan El Shorbagy kept his title hopes on track after beating Danish Atlas – the last Pakistani standing – 3-1 in the semi-finals of the WSF World Junior Individual Championship in Doha.

Atlas lost 12-10, 11-7, 5-11 and 11-4 to seal his place in the final but Pakistan coach Jamshed Gul confirmed that he will talk to the tournament referee and the organising committee due to several decisions going against the Pakistani players in the tournament.

“I’m not pleased at all because a couple of wrong decisions can change the match,” Gul told The Express Tribune. “I will definitely be chatting to the referee about that. We have the team championship ahead and I don’t want a repeat of such decisions which is why I’ll be putting our case forward.”

Gul was pleased with his players’ show, terming them unlucky after three Pakistanis fell to Shorbagy in the event. He also praised Atlas for putting up a good show but said that a player cannot win when key decisions in a big match goes against him.

Meanwhile, a senior Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) official has complained that the World Squash Federation kept the Pakistan players under pressure as the issue of players being over-age surfaced.

“In my view, the players could’ve done well had this issue not been created,” he said. “There are several teams who have players who look older than ours.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2012.