Pakistan clinched four spots in the finals of the Asian Junior Squash Championship at the Mushaf Sports Complex in Islamabad after a grueling round of semi-finals on Friday.
Saturday’s finals will see Pakistani teammates Huzaifa Shahid and Sohail Adnan battle it out for the Boys U-13 title, while Abdullah Nawaz faces Malaysia’s Nikhileswar Moganasundharam in the U-17 category at the 31st edition of the championship.
Last year’s world champion Hamza Khan will face off Malaysia’s Harith Danial in the U-19 category.
Not a single Pakistani girl advanced to the semi-finals in the tournament, which has featured some 200 players from a dozen countries across the U-13, U-15, U-17 and U-19 categories.
Earlier this month, the Ali sisters fueled Pakistan’s medal rush at the PBA 20th Penang Malaysia Junior Open.
Sohail had a clean win over Malaysia’s Muhammad Ifwat Zulkifli, beating him 11-8, 11-6, 11-2 to advance to the finals.
The Malaysians lost another spot in the Boys U-13 final as Huzaifa thrashed Julius Tan 11-2, 11-8, 11-5. Huzaifa has dominated the global U-13 field this year as he took home the title at the Australian Junior Open in April.
Malaysia and Pakistan continued their semi-final rivalry as Muhammad Raziq Razi clinched his spot in the U-15 finals over Pakistan’s Abdullah Zaman in an easy 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 win.
Pakistan’s Nouman Khan started the other U-15 semi-final with a solid win over India’s Shiven Agarwal before being thrashed 5-11, 9-11, 0-11 to bow out of the championship.
U-17 was another Pakistan-Malaysia showdown as Abdullah Nawaz knocked out Altamis Aqhar Sallam 11-4, 14-12, 11-6. while Malaysia’s Nikhileswar Moganasundharam took revenge with an easy win over Azan Ali, who lost 6-11, 6-11, 8-11.
Hamza outclassed compatriot M Ammad 11-6, 11-5, 11-0 to secure his spot in the finals where he faces Malaysia’s Harith Danial, who advanced to the finals over South Korea’s Jooyoung Na in a thrilling win 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10.
