Pakistan suffer heavy loss in squash event

Team goes down 3-0 to Malaysia in world championship.

KARACHI: Pakistan suffered a heavy loss at the World Men’s Team Squash Championship after they went down 3-0 to Malaysia after winning their opening match 3-0 against Austria.

The country’s number one player Aamir Atlas lost to world number 12 Mohammad Azlan Iskandar 11-3, 11-8, 11-3. Atlas, who defeated Iskandar last month at the Malaysian Open, lost the match in less than half an hour.

However, Yasir Butt put up a fight against Ong Beng Hee after going down in the first set 11-2. Butt’s resistance ran out as the Pakistan number three failed to stop the Malaysian who outplayed him 11-2, 13-11 in the next two games to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

With the fate already sealed, the 16-year-old Nasir Iqbal fought hard against Mohammad Nafiizwan before eventually losing 13-11, 18-16, 11-6.

Pakistan will now play their third and final group match against Denmark today. The top two teams from the group will progress to the knock-out round of the tournament that is featuring 32 teams.

Earlier, Butt had defeated Leopold Czaska 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 in less than 30 minutes while Atlas overcame Aqeel Rehman 11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 10-12, 11-1 with the match lasting 53 minutes.

Meanwhile, Iqbal, who is playing the championship for the first time, won his first game of the tournament after overcoming Jakob Dirnberger 12-10, 11-2, 11-2.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd,  2011.