ISLAMABAD - Pakistan squash team was humiliated by hosts France in the second match of Group C of the WSF World Men’s Team Squash Championship 2013 played in France on Monday as they were outclassed 3-0.
It was very much on the cards that Pakistan would win the first match against inexperienced Russian but their real test was to face France and Netherlands. All the tall claims made by the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) and head coach Jamshed Gul brought down to earth by the French team.
In the first match, Farhan Zaman was pitted against French No 2 player Thierry Lincou who won the match in straight games.
Farhan Zaman put up some fight in the first game before Thierry finally winning the game 11-7, but in the second game, Thierry dictated the terms and took the game 11-2 while the third game was even worst as Thierry dropped just one point to win the game 11-1.  In the second match, Farhan Mahboob was pitted against Mathieu Castagnet. Farhan started the match positively but looked uncomfortable in the middle of the first game losing it 11-6. Same story was repeated in the second game as Farhan matched Mathieu point to point in the early exchanges before losing the game 11-5. The third game was a tight affair as Farhan was tied 5-5 but Mathieu never looked back and took the game 11-6 to register a thumping victory for the hosts France.
In the third match, Nasir Iqbal faced the challenge of No 2 Gregory Gauitier. Nasir fought bravely in the first game and at one stage, he was down 1-5 but he fought back and came close to his opponent but finally, he lost the first game 8-11. In the second game, Nasir again tried hard but lost the game with same 8-11 margin. In the third game, it was a see saw battle as Gregory was leading 5-1 but Nasir bounced back and made it 5-4. But after that, it was a one-way traffic and Nasir finally lost the game 11-5 thus Pakistan was beaten 3-0. Pakistan will take on Netherlands in the must-win match today (Tuesday).