ISLAMABAD - Muhammad Hamza Khan made it to the finals of the US Junior Squash Championship Under-15 category, as he thrashed top seed Sosa Federico of Mexico in the semi-finals.
While talking to The Nation on Tuesday, Squadron Leader Game Development Officer Pakistan Squash Federation Aamir Iqbal said it was a great day for Pakistan squash as another brilliant junior, Humam Ahmad beat Ahmad Haq of USA in the semi-finals of the U-13 category to made it to the finals.
In the U-15 semi-finals, Hamza was up against the top seed and hot-favourite Sosa Federico. But Hamza never paid any heed towards superior ranking of the opponent and just focused on his game plan. Hamza won the first game 11/7, he took second game 11/6 and third game 11/9 to reach the finals. Earlier, in the quarterfinals, Hamza beat Mohamed Abdullah of Egypt 11/9, 11/9 and 12/10 while Carney Tedd of USA beat Noor Zaman of Pakistan with 6/11, 11/7, 7/11, 11/9, 12/10.
In the U-13 semi-finals, Humam Ahmad beat Ahmad Haq of USA. Humam won the first game 11/7, second game 11/6 and third game 11/9. In the quarterfinals, Humam beat Egyptian Salem Youssef 3-2, Humam won the first game 13/11, he lost second game 9/11, he lost third game 8/11, before bouncing back to win 4th game 11/8 and 5th game 13/11. Humam Ahmad will play against Rohan A Gondhi of India in the U-13 final while M Hamza Khan will play against Carney Tedd of USA in the U-15 final.
Meanwhile, Pakistani contingent comprising Haris Qasim, Farhan Hashmi, Asad Ullah Khan, M Ashab Irfan and Anas Ali Shah departed from Islamabad for participation in the British Junior Squash Championship, 2019 at Birmingham. Manager Air Commodore (R) Aftab Sadiq Qureshi along with coaches Muhammad Yasin and Fazal Shah also accompanied the contingent.
The Championship would be played from January 2 to 6 January, 2019. The players would remain under training for 10 days in UK so that they could perform well and produce outstanding results during the championship, while Abbas Zeb, Muhammad Hamza Khan, Noor Zaman and Humam Ahmad, who are currently playing in US Junior Championship would also join them in training at UK.
