ISLAMABAD-World junior squash team champion Israr Ahmed survived a close scare against Waqas Mehboob in the $25,000 President Gold Cup International Squash Championship 2017 final qualifying round match here at the Mushaf Squash Complex on Monday.

In the first qualifying round match the day, Israr registered hard-fought 3-2 victory against sprinted Waqas, who was underdog against the seasoned campaigner and international player. Nobody was even giving outside chances to Waqas against Israr. Both the players were involved in lengthy first game, which was played on high tempo and kept on swinging from one way to another. Waqas displayed excellent skills and kept Israr on the bay, it was 9-9, 10-10, 12-12, 15-15, before Israr finally prevailed, taking the game 18-16 in 21 minutes.

Israr completely dominated second game and took it 11-6. It seemed Waqas would easily give up and hand over the victory to Israr, but he showed tremendous fighting skills and staged a remarkable comeback in next two games, as first he won the third game 11-5 and then fourth 11-2, which stunned Israr. After playing so well, Waqas ran out of gas and lost the fifth and decisive 11-4. Although Waqas lost the match, yet he won hearts and minds of the crowd, who gave him standing ovation. The marathon match lasted for almost one hour. Israr will take on Tayyab Aslam in the first round match. It was an eye-opener for the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) as well, as Israr is the most blessed child of the federation, which has been heavily investing on him, but the way, Waqas exposed flaws and weaknesses in Israr’s technique and game, is more than enough to convince the PSF’s high ups to open their eyes and hire top professional coaches on long-term basis, if they really want to excel in squash world, or else, forget about even coming in top 20s in the PSA rankings.

Pakistan is blessed with immense amount of natural and raw talent but the only need is to provide them with opportunities and latest method training. The federation must understand, it is not 70s or 80s, but it is 2017. Yasin or other coaches on the PSF panel have well passed their peaks, they are living in 70s, while on the other hand, squash world has completely changed and now only the fittest survives. The journalists are eyes and ears of any nation, and they are lawyers, not judges, and can only suggest, it is the federation, which implements and acts in the best interest of the sports and country.

In the second match of the morning, Zahir Shah upset former Asian junior Individual champion Syed Ali Bukhari 3-0 in just 24 minutes. It is the time when Ali should stop playing squash and apply his trade in other field, as he was completely out of shape and rather than looking like a squash player. Zahir took the first game 11-1 and then after facing resistance from Ali, he took the second game 11-7 and the third 11-5 to set first round date with Egyptian Mohamed Reda.

Waqar Mehboob beat Ismail Rauf 3-0 in 22 minutes. Waqar took the first game 13-11, second game 11-6 and third game 12-10 to set first round date with Farhan Zaman. Sadam Ul Haq downed high-flying Faraz Muhammad 3-0 in just 20 minutes. It was an upset victory, as Faraz had taken giant strides in recent past and had registered highly upset victories against top professional players, but it was not his day, as Sadam took the first game11-9, second 11-5 and third 11-4 to set first round meeting with Hong Kong’s Tsz Fung Yip.

After three days of qualifying round of matches, Zahir Shah, Waqar Mehboob, Sadam Ul Haq and Israr Ahmad qualified for the main round, which will commence today (Tuesday). It is relatively good event for local players as for the first time after long gap; nine local players are in the main round, while seven international players are also in the main round. The first round matches will start at 1pm today (Tuesday) with top seed Leo Au facing Egyptian Shehab Essam.