Danish stuns Nasir in squash final
Third seed registers 3-2 win to bag $10,000 PSA tournament title.
KARACHI:
Third seed Danish Atlas Khan stunned top seed Nasir Iqbal with a 3-2 win in the final of the $10,000 Hashim Khan Memorial PSA Tournament played at the Hashim Khan Squash Complex in Peshawar on Thursday.
It was Danish’s first win against Nasir in a PSA event, having lost in all three previous encounters.
The first set of the match was closely contested as both players tried to build up an early lead till Danish triumphed to go up 1-0.
However, Nasir hit back by cancelling the lead in the second set and went on to claim the third one as well.
Nasir was leading 2-1 and looked set to clinch his seventh career PSA title, until Danish made a comeback to crash his hopes.
He outplayed Nasir by winning the fourth and fifth sets and claimed victory with a scoreline of 12-10, 6-11, 8-11, 11-2 and 11-5 in 92 minutes.
“It was a really good final with Nasir and in the end I was able to outplay him to win the title,” Danish told The Express Tribune.
“This tournament has given me a huge boost because I defeated all the top players on my way to winning this tournament.
“The victory over Farhan Mehboob [in the quarter-final] was massive because he is a top player and this pleases me because my game and fitness both are improving with time.
“However, this is just the beginning for me and my career because my goals are really high.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2014.
Third seed Danish Atlas Khan stunned top seed Nasir Iqbal with a 3-2 win in the final of the $10,000 Hashim Khan Memorial PSA Tournament played at the Hashim Khan Squash Complex in Peshawar on Thursday.
It was Danish’s first win against Nasir in a PSA event, having lost in all three previous encounters.
The first set of the match was closely contested as both players tried to build up an early lead till Danish triumphed to go up 1-0.
However, Nasir hit back by cancelling the lead in the second set and went on to claim the third one as well.
Nasir was leading 2-1 and looked set to clinch his seventh career PSA title, until Danish made a comeback to crash his hopes.
He outplayed Nasir by winning the fourth and fifth sets and claimed victory with a scoreline of 12-10, 6-11, 8-11, 11-2 and 11-5 in 92 minutes.
“It was a really good final with Nasir and in the end I was able to outplay him to win the title,” Danish told The Express Tribune.
“This tournament has given me a huge boost because I defeated all the top players on my way to winning this tournament.
“The victory over Farhan Mehboob [in the quarter-final] was massive because he is a top player and this pleases me because my game and fitness both are improving with time.
“However, this is just the beginning for me and my career because my goals are really high.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2014.