Gul rues failure to defend Asian squash title

Former head coach still all praises for players’ spirited performance

KARACHI: Former Pakistan head coach Jamshed Gul hailed Farhan Zaman and Nasir Iqbal for putting in spirited performances at the 18th Asian Individual Championship in Kuwait, but expressed disappointment on the fact that none of the country’s players were able to retain the title for Pakistan.

“Both Farhan and Nasir deserve all the praise for making it to the semi-finals in a commanding manner,” Gul told The Express Tribune. “I believe both of them played admirably and put up a real fight against better-ranked opposition.”



Farhan, seeded 11th in the tournament, defeated eighth seed Harinder Pal Sadhu of India 3-2 in the last-16 stage and then caused the biggest upset of the event by knocking out top-seed Hong Kong’s Max Lee in straight games in the quarter-final.

He was then involved in an intense battle with fourth-seeded Leo Au of Hong Kong in the semi-final as both players stretched each other to their limits before Farhan lost 3-1 and Gul, who helped Aamir Atlas Khan become the Asian champion in 2013, was disappointed with the result.

“It hurts that Pakistan failed to defend the crown in the absence of Aamir because that was the most important thing to achieve in this championship,” he added.

Meanwhile, Farhan also expressed his disdain at not being able to defend the crown but insisted that he gave it his all. “My semi-final was really intense and luck was with Leo on the day,” said Zaman. “I needed a single point in the fourth game to turn the match around but the moment never arrived despite all the hard work. I wanted to win the Asian title badly and it makes me sad that I couldn’t achieve the target.”

Nasir too made a strong impression by defeating second-seeded India’s Saurav Ghoshal in the quarter-final as he won 3-1 after a 75-minute battle with a scoreline of 13-15, 11-7, 11-4 and 11-5.

However, he lost his semi-final bout 3-2 against Kuwait’s home boy Abdullah alMezayen with scores of 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 5-11 and 11-6.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th,  2015.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.