Champions again: Pakistan stun Egypt to lift world junior squash crown

KARACHI: Second seed Pakistan on Wednesday stunned top seed Egypt to clinch the World Junior Team Squash Championship 2-1 in Bielsko-Biala, Poland.

This is Pakistan’s sixth overall title and the first since 2008.

Wednesday’s win brought an end to Egypt’s dominance who had won the last three editions of the junior championships.

Pakistan got off to a surprisingly promising start when Israr Ahmad came out on top against Saadeldin Abouaish to win a closely-fought match 3-0 with scores of 11-9, 11-9 and 11-9.

The win was sweeter for Ahmad who had lost his semi-final match of the World Junior Individual Championship to Abouaish just few days back. That match had ended 3-1 to the Egyptian top seed. Ahmad, who was the joint third seed, had lost with overall scores of 11-5, 5-11, 11-6, 11-1.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2016.