PESHAWAR
Azaan Kamran clinched the trophy after recording victory against Mamoon Asif in the final of the U11 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Age Group Junior Squash Championship played here at PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex on Wednesday.
Assistant Director Sports PAF Squadron leader Amjad Saeed was the chief guest on this occasion. Former World Squash Champion Qamar Zaman, Group Capt. Ifran, General Secretary KP Squash, Mansoor Zaman, Mohibullah Khan, Executive Members KP Squash Sher Bahadur, Finance Secretary Wazir Mohammad, Chief Referee Adil Faqir and Chief Organizer Munawar Zaman, Squash coaches Alam Zeb, Niamat Ullah, players and large number of spectators were also present.
Besides the final of the U11 category, the final of the U13 and U15 were also played. In the U11 final both Azaan Kamran and Mamoon Asif played well and gave each other a tough fight. Azaan won the first set by 11-5 but failed to click in the second wherein both stretched to 13-15. The set was also tied at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, 11-11, 12-12, 13-13, and at the end Mamoon Asif won the set by 13-15.
Azaan played well and despite facing tough resistance in the second sets, staged a strong comeback and marched into victory after winning two consecutive sets by 11-9 and 12-10.
In the U13 final Nouman Khan defeated Mustafa Irfan by 3-1, the score was 11-6, 2-11, 11-9 and 13-11. Both Nouman Khan and Mustafa played well and exhibited some good shorts.
Nouman was good in hitting some excellent drops and smashes by succeeding in putting Mustafa in the back of the court.
In the U15 final, Ibrahim Zeb recorded victory against Luqman Hassan wherein both played well and good shorts were also witnessed. Ibrahim Zeb, a consistent winner, lost the first set by 10-12. The set was thrice tied at 7-7, 9-9 and 10-10 when Luqman took the set at 10-12.
It was the second set in which Ibrahim Zeb took the lead right from the outset and marched into victory at 11-8. The set was one tied at 8-8 otherwise Ibrahim Zeb raced up to victory to level the set tally 1-1. After 1-1, Luqman came back strongly and won the third set by 8-11. This set was also tied at 8-8 but Luqman dominated the proceedings.
Ibrahim Zeb after conceding a set deficit staged a strong comeback into the final and registered victories in the two consecutive sets at 11-1 and 11-7. Ibrhaim Zeb fully dominated against Luqman Hassan and did not give him much time to strike back, thus marching into victory at 3-2.
At the end, Assistant Director Sports PAF Squadron leader Amjad Saeed along with Former World Squash Champion Qamar Zaman and Group Capt. Ifran gave away trophies and cash prizes.
The Championship is aimed at giving competitive exposure to the upcoming youngsters, Member Executive Committee and Director Blue Line Squash Academy Wazir Gul while addressing the players and media men. He said KP Squash Association is regularly holding events in different age groups so that to help the new entrant to the Games could come up in the main pool of talent. He also thanked the President Pakistan Squash Federation for giving the Association Rs. 1 million grant for holding various age groups tournaments at Inter-School, Inter-College and Inter-University levels.
