Pakistan finish 10th at 31-team squash event

Coach satisfied with show at World Team Championship.

KARACHI:

Pakistan finished 10th at the 31-nation WSF Men’s World Squash Team Championship after losing the ninth-place playoff to Scotland 2-1 in Mulhouse, France yesterday.

In the team’s final match, played on a format of 3-1-2, Farhan Mehboob helped the side gain a 1-0 lead after beating Dougie Kempsell in straight games with a scoreline of 11-3, 11-4 and 11-5.

However, Scotland hit back through Alan Clyne who dispatched off Pakistan’s top-ranked player Nasir Iqbal with ease 11-5, 11-4 and 11-7.

With the match evenly poised at 1-1, Greg Lobban downed Farhan Zaman with a scoreline of 11-2, 11-6 and 11-9.

The overall campaign saw Pakistan improve on their last-year’s show when they finished a poor 22nd and silence, to an extent, the critics who suggested the team would crash out in the group stage after being drawn with hosts France, Netherlands and Russia. But Pakistan ended up second in their group, just behind France, only to be drawn with eight-time world champions Australia in their last-16 clash. Head coach Jamshed Gul said he was satisfied with the team’s performance, adding that an improvement needed to be made.

“We targeted to finish in the top-eight and we almost achieved it,” Gul told The Express Tribune. “We were just unlucky to be drawn against Australia. But I’m still satisfied as they did well despite having limited opportunities to place at the highest level.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2013.