ISLAMABAD: Farhan Mehboob won the Serena Hotel Chief of Air Staff International Squash Champ­ionship after defeating Farhan Zaman in the final at the Mushaf Squash Complex here on Monday.

Mehboob, who had made into the main round after winning the qualification round, played brilliantly throughout the tournament.

In the final clash against his compatriot Zaman, who was the third seed, Mehboob played superbly and won the title without facing any serious resistance in the four-game final with the score being 11-9, 11-6, 6-11 and 11-5.

Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, who is also Pakistan Squash Federation’s president, graced the closing ceremony as chief guest and awarded trophies and prizes to the winner and runners-up of the championship.

Squash legends Jahangir Khan and Qamar Zaman, and CEO of Serena Hotels Aziz Bolani watched the final along with civil and military dignitaries, and sports lovers.

In the first game, Mehboob, who is ranked 85, upset Zaman, the world number 52 and third seed in the championship, by his well calculated game and won it 11-9.

He became more aggressive in the next game and outclassed his opponent, who looked helpless, 11-6 by playing some superb cross courts, overhead cross and drop shots.

In the next set, Zaman, who had upset top seed Hong Kong’s Leo Au in the semi-final, bounced back to stop advances of Mehoob towards straight game victory.

Zaman won the third game 11-6, however, Mehboob did not provide him any chance in the fourth game and outclassed him 11-5.

The final lasted for 35 minutes. Besides top ranking Pakistani players, professional players from Austria, Egypt, England, Hong Kong, Jordon and the Netherlands participated in the championship.

Published in Dawn November 22nd, 2016