PESHAWAR : Muhammad Hamza of PAF clinched the trophy of the 5th NBP National Junior Squash Championship Under-11 category played here at PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex on Thursday.
Seeded first Muhammad Hamza, who also won the trophy of the same category in DG Ranger Squash Cup played at Karachi, did not take much time in eliminating Abbas Nawaz in the 3-0, the score was 11-7, 11-6 and 11-8.
Very promising Hamza has full command over his drops and nick shorts which made the task much difficult for Abbas Nawaz, also from PAF Academy, to stage a comeback.
Witnessing his game, Hamza played his final against much older rival Abbas Nawaz who is studying in class-9 but playing in the Under-11 category.
This is the time that Pakistan Squash Federation would come up to make things on the right track as far as the ages of the players in various categories are concerned.
In the Under-13 category top seed Noor Zaman faced tough resistance against Waleed Khalil in the marathon five set battle, the score was 11-6, 11-9, 10-12, 9-11 and 11-6. Both Waleed Khalil and Noor Zaman played very attacking gave by giving each other very tough fight.
Noor has perfect nicks and drops shorts which helped him winning the final. Noor took the first two sets quite easily but he failed to click in the third and fourth sets won by Waleed Khalil, a finalist of the DG Ranger Squash Cup. Noor made it 11-6 and marched into victory with his super forceful smashes, perfect nicks and drops.
In the Under-15 category international player Uzair Shoukat got no time against Muhammad Saqib Iqbal in the straight sets battle, the score was 11-5, 11-7 and 11-5.
In the Under-17 category Zeeshan Zeb defeated Zeeshan Malik in another thrilling four sets battle, the score was 8-11, 11-4, 11-4 and 11-4. Zeeshan Zeb fully dominated the final and did not give much time to Zeeshan Malik to strike back.
At the end, the chief guest Regional Chief NBP Syed Waseem Akhtar gave away trophies and cash prizes to the winners and runners-up. The Championship carries Rs. 0.2 million with more than 150 players from across Pakistan took part in four different categories comprising Under-11, Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17.
Speaking on this occasion, former World Champion Qamar Zaman appreciated NBP for extending helping hands in sponsoring the event and from next year an increase would be made in the prize money. He said KP Squash Association has so far organized 21 tournaments including six tournaments for female with a national senior women squash Championship.
The next schedule of the first six months would be announced in January 2017, he informed.
