Pakistan’s Hamza Khan won the squash Junior Championship on Sunday. The trophy has come back to Pakistan after 37 years.
The championship’s final match was played in Melbourne, Australia, where Hamza faced off against Egypt’s Muhammad Zakaria.
Hamza lost the opening set by 14-12 but made a strong comeback to beat Zakaria 14-12, 11-3 and 11-6 in the next sets. He ultimately won the championship by a score of 3-1.
The last Pakistani to win the championship was the legendary Jansher Khan in 1986. Pakistan’s Amir Atlas made it to the final in 2008 but was beaten.
Earlier,
Hamza Khan became the first Pakistani in 15 years to go to the World Junior Squash Championship final after qualifying on Saturday.
Melvil Scianimanico of France rallied from being two games and a match ball down, but Hamza won the last game to advance to the championship match.
With scores of 11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 9-11, and 13-11, Hamza prevailed in the contest.
Since Aamir Atlas in 2008, Hamza is the first Pakistani athlete to advance to the final of the competition.
The Malaysian Joachim Chuah was defeated by the young Pakistani 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, and 12-10, securing his place in the last four.
On Thursday, Hamza advanced to the quarterfinals after narrowly overcoming Colombia’s Santamaria 3-2 in the preliminary round.
Hamza defeated Samuel Grates of the Netherlands by scores of 12-10, 11-6, 11-3, and 11-7 on Wednesday in the round of 16.
Huzaifa Khan of Pakistan, on the other hand, was defeated by Rishi Srivastava of the USA and disqualified from the championship race.
Huzaifa and Rishi engaged in a five-set battle of nerves. Huzaifa battled back and won two straight sets 11-8 and 11-8 by playing bravely, despite the fact that the American won the first two sets 11-9 and 11-8 and everything appeared to be lost for the Pakistani.
But in the decisive set, Rishi defeated Huzaifa 11-9 to go to the pre-quarterfinal.
Hamza Khan, Moeen-ud-din, and Huzaifa Ibrahim Khan were the three Pakistani athletes sent to compete in the competition.
