PESHAWAR
Promising squash player Sana Bahadur of Pakistan Army defeated Mehvish Ali the Bank of Khyber in the final of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Women Squash Championship played here at PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex on Monday.
Chairman Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Squash Association and former World Champion legendary Qamar Zaman was the chief guest on this occasion who witnessed the thrilling match between two promising upcoming squash players from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sana Bahadur of Pakistan Army and Mehwish Ali of the Bank of Khyber.
Both the two players were also top the national trials held for the forthcoming US Junior Squash Championship but they were unable to get US visas, however, they played the final by giving each other a tough fight.
Sana Bahadur played well and took the first set by 11-9, but she lost the second set at 11-13. The second set was tied on a couple of occasions and both Sana Bahadur and Mehwish Ali played well but exhibited some excellent nick, drop shorts and forceful smashes and received thundering applause from the sitting spectators in Jansher Khan Court of the PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex.
There was a point to point struggle made by each of the finalist players and at the end, Mehwish Ali took the second set by levelling the set tally 1-1. It was the third set in which Sana Bahadur did not give much time to Mehwish Ali to settle down and took the set 11-5.
Taking the lead, Sana Bahadur did not look behind and marched up to victory by taking the fourth set 13-11. The set was tied at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 10-10, and 11-11 before Sana took the set by 13-11. Former World Squash Championship Qamar Zaman also appreciated both Sana Bahadur and Mehwish Ali for their excellent final and expressed the hope that they would continue their hard work in future. He said now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has more than 40 girls squash players and hopefully they would continue their hard work to come up at national and international levels.
Earlier in the first semi-final, Sana Bahadur of Pakistan Army defeated Kainat Amir of Pakistan by 11-7, 11-4 and 11-6 while Mehwish Ali of the Bank of Khyber defeated Manahel Aqeel of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 11-4, 11-4 and 11-7 in the second semi-final. A total of 32 women players took part in the Championship organized by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Squash Association.
At the end, Qamar Zaman and Director Blue Tone Squash Academy Wazir Gul gave away trophies and cash prizes to the position holders’ players. Secretary KP Squash Association and son of Qamar Zaman former Asian Champion Mansoor Zaman, Fayyaz Khalil, Sher Bahadur, Chief Referee Adil Faqir, Chief Organiser and Tournament Director Mansoor Zaman were also present on the occasion.
