KARACHI, March 15: Second seed Nasir Iqbal and unseeded Samar Anjum were crowned men’s and women’s champions respectively of the US$15,000 inaugural DHA Karachi international squash championship at the Asif Nawaz Squash Complex, Creek Club, on Friday.

Unfortunately, both the finals ended on sour note in which seeded players were compelled to concede their respective matches due to injuries.

Nasir won 11-9, 9-5 (retired) in just 20 minutes after top seed Amir Atlas Khan left the court due to recurring muscle pain in left leg during the all-Wapda final.

Earlier, the national under-19 champion Samar Anjum of Punjab staged a comeback into the match twice and was 6-1 up in the fifth and decisive game when her opponent and fourth seed Rushna Mehboob of ZTBL opted to retire after she pulled ligament of her left thigh.

Final scores in favour of Samar were 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 13-11, 6-1 (retired). The match lasted for 55 minutes.

Nasir received a purse of US $1900 and winner’s trophy while Amir fetched US $1300 and runner-up trophy from the chief guest Administrator DHA, Brig Mohammad Abdullah.

The women’s singles winner took home US $570 while the runner-up got richer by US $390. Secretary of the DHA Creek Club Brig (retired) M. Kamal Khan and president of Sindh Squash Association, Tahir Khanzada, were also present.

Final results: Men’s: Nasir Iqbal (Pak) bt Amir Atlas Khan (Pak) 11-9, 9-5 (retired).

Women’s: Samar Anjum (Pak) bt Rushna Mehboob (Pak) 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 13-11, 6-1 (retired).