Nasir Iqbal plans on causing upsets at World Championship

Pakistan squash player looking forward to Manchester event.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top-ranked Professional Squash Association (PSA) player Nasir Iqbal is eyeing upsets at the World Individual Championship which begins in Manchester, UK from October 28.

Iqbal is currently ranked 48th in the world and will have to appear in the qualifiers – starting from October 26 – to cement a place in the main round of the most prestigious squash tournament of the world.

The 19-year-old player, who hails from Bannu, will represent Pakistan in the mega event alongside seasoned pro Farhan Mehboob, who will appear in the qualifiers as well.



Both players have been undergoing intensive training under the supervision of national coach Jamshed Gul as they prepare themselves to take on the world’s best athletes in the $325,000 championship.

“I’ve been really focused throughout our month-long training camp because I want to cause some upsets at the World Championship,” Iqbal told The Express Tribune.

“This is a very important event in the sport and the world has its eyes on it. If I can play well and shock some big names, then certainly it will help me grow as a player while my reputation around the globe will also improve.”

In his career so far, Iqbal has played 23 PSA tournaments and has won five of them while he has ended up as the runner-up thrice.

The current year has been the most productive in Nasir’s career as he has appeared in eight PSA tournaments, winning two of them and finishing runner-up on two occasions.

“I’ve worked really hard with our coach who has helped me improve on my grey areas and I feel I’ll emerge a better player after this training camp.”

He added that the current training camp is far better than the one the players attended ahead of the Asian Individual Championship, which was held in Islamabad in May.

Farhan, Danish to feature at Chicago Open

In-form Farhan Zaman and Danish Atlas will turn up at the $10,000 Chicago Open on their tour of the US as they seek to improve their world ranking.

Zaman is currently ranked 71 and he will take on Karamatullah Khan in the first round.

Pakistan players had suffered in terms of rankings as the PSA had not allowed the country to hold important tournaments with the involvement of foreign players.

This has led to the decline of rankings of important players including Aamir Atlas Khan and Farhan Mehboob who once were looking to break into the top 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2013.

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