ISLAMABAD - Defending champions Pakistan made it to the finals of the 19th Asian Senior Team Squash Championship 2018 after thrashing Malaysia 2-0 in the semi-finals played in South Korea on Saturday.
Now the real test of character and nerves will be tested as Pakistan will face top seeds Hong Kong in the final today. Pakistan had very easy path till the semi-finals considering the fact Indians and Kuwaitis don’t participate and other countries except Malaysia don’t had any quality to challenge Pakistan. Malaysia had sent their B team, or else, Pakistan could have faced stiff challenge.
In the first match against Malaysia, Tayyab Aslam was pitted against Darren Rahul, who was on grounds no match to the experience and quality of Tayyab. But Darren showed tremendous fighting skills and kept Tayyab on the run in the first game before going down fighting 8-11. Darren can’t repeat the performance and was outclassed by Tayyab in next two games as Tayyab won the second game 11-5 and third game 11-5 to give Pakistan 1-0 lead and stage was all set for Pakistan number 1 and captain of the team Farhan Zaman to wrap up things and take Pakistan into the final. Zaman was hot favourite to win against Adden Adraki, who enjoys huge reputation and many pundits had tipped him to be future star for Malaysian squash. Adraki lived upto his reputation and showed tremendous fighting skills. The first game was played on a very high tempo and both players tried to seal early initiative but Zaman showed his experience and took the game 11-8. Same was the case in the second game as both players were involved in long rallies and kept pressure on each other but once again, when it matters most, Zaman used his experience and took the game 11-8. Despite losing two games, Adrine never lost composure and put up brave fight and his hard work, determination paid off, as he won the third game 11-5 and he almost took 4th game when he was serving for the game but Zaman showed why he is Pakistan number 1 by first saving game point and then went onto take the game13-11. Now Pakistan face biggest test against Hong Kong who has services of Max Lee and an in-form Lee AU.