ISLAMABAD - Maestro Farhan Mehboob thrashed Egyptian world number 35 Karim-Al-Fathi in straight games to provide Pakistan 3-2 victory in the squash series against World-V here at Mushaf Squash Complex on Thursday.
It was total delight for the crowd to watch Farhan Mehboob in sensational form, who completely outclassed higher-ranked Fathi. Farhan won the first game 11-4 in just 7 minutes and won the second 11-7 in 10 minutes. He was just toying with Fathi in the third game, which he also won easily by 11-4 in 6 minutes to complete routine victory in just 23 minutes.
In another important match of the day, Ammad Fareed came from behind to beat England’s Nathan Lake 3-2. Ammad staged one of the greatest comebacks squash had ever witnessed, as he was down and out, trailing 0-2 and twice saved match points, before registering sensational victory. Soon after the victory, Ammad bowed down to pay thanks to Allah Almighty while the entire arena gave him standing ovation.
Nathan dominated the first game and won it 11-3 with utmost ease. He continued his good show in the second game and won it 11-4 in just 3 minutes. The real drama started in the third game, where Amamd entered with huge crowd support. He played some breathless squash and completely outclassed high-flying Nathan. Amamd was down 1-4, but he took 6-4 lead and enhanced it to 9-5 lead. Nathan though won two points to reduce the gap to 7-9, but it was all he could take from the game as Ammad finished the game 11-7 in 11 minutes to keep his and Pakistan’s hopes alive in the series.
Nathan was so desperate to finish the match, so he soon took control of the game and was serving for the match at 10-9, but Amamd saved match point and then had the chance of wrapping up the game at 11-10, but he failed to win that point. Nathan managed to make it 11-11, but it was all that he could get from the game as Amamd won the next two points to take the fourth game 13-11 in 17 minutes, thus forcing the match into fifth and deciding one. The entire crowd was cheering for Ammad, who won the hearts of local crowd by winning the fifth game 11-7 and also saved the day for PSF and Pakistan.
In the first match of the day, Ahsan Ayaz was beaten 3-1 by French Lucas Serme. Ahsan was down 3-7 in the first game, but the youngster never showed any sign of weakness and levelled the game at 7-7. Ahsan was leading 9-8, then it was 10-10, but he made two unforced errors, which gifted the first game to Lucas 13-11.
After losing first game, Ahsan came back strongly and took the second game 11-7. In 12 minutes, he was hit by Lucas racket on the forehead and he took 3 minutes injury break, but injury did nothing wrong for Ahsan and he came back to win the game easily. Ahsan was outclassed by Lucas in the third game 11-1 in just 5 minutes. Lucas won the fourht game 11-5 in 9 minutes to wrap up the match.
Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) senior vice president Air Marshal Shahid Akhtar Alvi was the chief guest on the occasion while PSF secretary Group Captain Tahir Sultan, former world squash champion Qamar Zaman, Air Vice Marshal (R) Syed Razi Nawab and others were also present at the jam-packed venue.