WAH CANTT - Sixth seed Nasir Iqbal becomes the champion of the POF National Squash Championship after defeating top seed Danish Atlas Khan 3-1 in the final played at Jahangir Khan Squash Complex, Wah Cantt on Wednesday.
Despite pitted against the top seed, Nasir never looked under pressure and won the first game 11-7 in 15 minutes. He went on to win the second game 12-10, after facing a tough resistance from Danish who was not in a mood to concede 2-0 lead. Danish saved three game points in the second set when he was 7-10 down and levelled the game at 10-10 but Nasir finally managed to prevail and took the game 12-10 in 17 minutes.
Danish showed his class in the third game and raced on to 5-0 lead and just when things were slipping from the hands of Nasir in the third game, he showed why he was so highly rated by the legends of squash. He not only level the score at 5-5 but also went on to take 6-5 lead. But Danish never gave up and bounced back in style to take the third game 11-7 to stay in the match.
Fourth game was a see saw battle between the country’s two most talented and bright future prospects. Game swung in favour of one to another as both players fought hard for every single point. When Danish and Nasir were locked at 9-9, they played the longest rally of the entire match which continued for seven minutes. Nasir won the point by hitting a powerful shot for which Danish had no answer. Nasir then upped the tempo and won the crucial match point as he won the fourth game 11-9, thus taking the championship by 3-1. The match lasted for 74 minutes.
Lt-Gen (R) Shahid Iqbal, Secretary Defence Production was the chief guest on the prize distribution ceremony along with Chairman POF Board Lt-Gen M Ahsan Mehmood HI(M), Pakistan Squash Federation secretary Abdul Wahab Marwat, Pakistan Squash team head coach Jamshed Gul, chief referee of the tournament Faheem Gul and other dignitaries.
Chief guest handed over winning trophy and a cash prize of Rs 100,000 to winner Nasir, while Danish received runners up trophy and a cash prize of Rs 70,000. Speaking on the occasion, Chairman POF Board assured that the POF would continue to support sporting events and announced to upgradae the Jahangir Khan Squash Complex and the court with glass walls.