KARACHI: Pakistan once again failed to produce a World Junior Individual Squash Champion as Ali Bokhari crashed out in Windhoek, Namibia after losing his semi-final match 3-1 to Egypt’s Omar El Atmas on Friday.
Even though the country has won several laurels at the senior level, Pakistan is still missing a world junior champion; only Aamir Atlas Khan and Yasir Butt have previously reached the finals.
Bokhari, a former Asian Junior Champion, fought gallantly in a closely contested match but succumbed to defeat by scores of 13-11, 10-12, 11-9 and 12-10.
The youngster had trained hard with head coach Jamshed Gul for the event, and had gone as far as to skipping the Asian Junior Championship in order to concentrate on winning the world junior title.
Gul, who was snubbed by the Pakistan Squash Federation for the event, said that Bokhari should have at least played in the final; however the coach was pleased the player had gone down fighting.
“The way Bokhari had prepared with me, I was confident that he would at least play in the final,” Gul told The Express Tribune.
“Even though his journey ended in the last four, it is really encouraging for me that all the frames were tightly contested between Bokhari and El Atmas. Maybe a better game plan on the spot could have helped him in this battle.”
The coach added that besides Bokhari, he had also banked high hopes on Tayyab Aslam, who crashed out in the quarter-finals.
Focus will now shift to the World Junior Team Championship in which Pakistan have been placed in Group B along with Germany, hosts Namibia and Israel.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2014.
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