KARACHI: Defending champions Nasir Iqbal and Zaynab Khan cruised to victory as they successfully defended their second All Pakistan CNS Squash Championship titles here at the Roshan Khan-Jahangir Khan Squash Complex on Sunday.

The victors also clinched a substantial prize of Rs3 million, the highest monetary reward in a squash tournament in Pakistan.

Wapda’s Nasir, playing in front of his inspiration and legend of squash Jahangir Khan, recorded a thumping 12-10, 11-3, 11-2 win over Israr Ahmed of SNGPL.

“Absolutely delighted to win the title,” Nasir told Dawn after the match. “I hope more tournaments like these happen so we get to test our skills more often and improve.”

In the first set, both players maintained high pace in a fully packed complex as there were rapid exchan­ges throughout the match with Nasir getting off the mark first, courtesy of a low shot in the corner.

Israr, 25, shortly drew level with a delicate touch of his own but then miscued a couple of shots before Nasir launched a quick volley to go 5-2 up. Israr responded in style as he upped the ante and caught Nasir, the U-13 British Open Championship, off guard to level the score at 7-7.

The 29-year-old Nasir, who didn’t lose the lead throughout the match, then went ahead with a counterdrop but Israr forced a deuce after a flurry of shots, though he couldn’t take advantage as Nasir wrapped the first set 12-10 shortly.

Nasir, hailing from Bannu, was again the first to open the scoring in the second set through a drop shot but Isr­ar quickly equalised in the same fashion. Israr then lost his balance and tripped as he handed the lead to the defending champion again. Nasir did­n’t look back after that and completely took over the match and won the second set in less than five minutes.

The last set was all-Nasir show as Israr wasn’t able to time his shot and kept getting caught out of position. Nasir took full advantage and went 6-0 up before Israr recorded his first point. Israr, who suffered an ACL injury a year ago, slowed down and didn’t show much of a competition in the last set before Nasir put an end to his misery.

“I felt a slight discomfort in my shin after the first set,” Israr told Dawn. “I had an ACL injury last year and I am still recovering from it. In the last match also [semi-final against Waqar Mehboob] I wasn’t feeling 100% but I kept playing.”

Israr also echoed Nasir’s view regarding not enough top level competition happening in the country.

“There aren’t enough tournaments of this caliber happening in the country,” said Israr. “Also we don’t have glass courts in Lahore which makes preparing for tournaments like these difficult.”

Nasir, ranked world 35 in 2016, while talking to Dawn said that he gets to play in tournaments like these once in five or six months which hinders the players’ performance and rankings. He also noted that this is the reason Pakistan isn’t able to produce top level players since Jahangir and Jansher Khan.

He also lamented about his time that was wasted due to politicisation in the squash federation.

“Almost five years of my prime were wasted due to the problems in the federation,” Nasir, who recovered from a calf tear almost two weeks ago, told Dawn. “I didn’t get to play many competitions in that time and lost my ranking too.”

Nasir also said that people ignorantly target the players saying that they don’t work hard enough but according to him it’s just a myth.

Earlier, Army’s Zainab triumphed in the women’s category after defeating Noor-ul-Ain 12-10, 11-4, 11-8 in less than 25 minutes.

Zaynab, who is currently studying in a US college, said that this was a very tough event and was glad to win the trophy. She also told Dawn that these glass courts are different to play on and more of these should be built so athletes could train.

“Most tournaments are conducted on these four-wall glass courts,” the 20-year-old Zaynab said. “The bounce and how the ball reacts on its surface is different. You have to play on these to get used to it. There is currently only one four-wall glass court in Karachi.”

After the match Pakistan Navy Admiral Mohammad Amjad Khan Niazi while talking to the audience said that they will try to bring international players to the country.

“We hope that international players will come here to compete with our players,” he said. “But it is only possible if we produce top-players and provide international level facilities,” he noted.

Admiral Amjad Khan also said that he recently met with World Junior Squash Champion Hamza Khan at Naval Headquarters in Islamabad and hopes that he does well in the future.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2023