Pakistan clinch fourth successive crown at Asian Squash Team Championship

Defeat Hong Kong 2-0 in final of Asian Squash Team championship

KARACHI: Pakistan continued their dominance at the 18th edition of the Asian Squash Team Championship in Taiwan as they won their fourth successive and 15th overall title after defeating Hong Kong 2-0 in the final yesterday.

Pakistan, who had earlier defeated arch-rivals India in the semi-final to book their place in the final, outclassed their Hong Kong counterparts as Farhan Mehboob and Farhan Zaman both won their respective ties.

Team manager Amir Nawaz was delighted with the way the team carried themselves despite the absence of big names from the competition. “Pakistan have won this title entirely because of the effort the team put in. There was no Amir Atlas, Nasir Iqbal or Danish Atlas — our top players. But despite their absence, we managed to deliver a great overall performance,” Nawaz told The Express Tribune.



Nawaz further added that the team carried out the plan to the letter which led to the triumph. “There were roles defined for these players and they fulfilled it. Every player had to perform a specific task and they did that,” he added.

In the first match, Mehboob thrashed Tang Ming Ho 3-0 with scores of 11-4, 11-7 and 11-4 to give Pakistan an ideal start. He was followed by Zaman, who had to come from behind twice to overcome his opponent, world number 16 Max Lee, 3-2 with a scoreline of 9-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-7 and 11-9.

After losing the first set to Lee, Zaman staged a comeback in the second. However, by the third set Lee had taken the lead again but Zaman showed nerves of steel to win the next two frames on the trot to clinch the title.

And the 24-year-old believes training in the US certainly helped him keep his composure against an opponent with whom he has previously trained. “In the US, I trained with the top players of the world, including Lee, so it helped me in the final,” said Zaman.

He further added: “I feel more confident after working with them because I believe that I can beat them easily. I would like to thank the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), Shahid Zaman, who helped me in the US and our coach Fahim Gul.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2016.

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