Squash: Pakistan launch campaign in style

Holders thrash China in squash’s Asian Team Championship opener.

KARACHI: Defending champions Pakistan got their 16th Asian Team Championship off to a winning start when they beat China 3-0 in their opening group match.

Captain Farhan Mehboob defeated Wang Junjie 11-1, 11-3, 11-4, Sheikh Saqib Yousuf beat Shen Jiaqi 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 and Farhan Zaman thrashed Li Zhiyan 11-3, 11-3, 11-2 to complete the emphatic score-line.

Mehboob said that the impressive start will set the tone for his team for the rest of the tournament. “When you start well, the confidence reflects in your remaining matches,” Mehboob told The Express Tribune from Kuwait. “That’s what we’re looking for and that’s what we got.”

The skipper added that the players could not afford to get complacent given the absence of top players like Aamir Atlas and Yasir Butt.

“There are junior players with me as well so the team can’t afford to relax.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2012.