Pakistan knocked out of WSF Word Team Squash Championship by Germany

Pakistan on Wednesday was ousted from the title quest when they were conquered by Germany 2-1 in the pre-quarter-final of the WSF Word Team Squash Championship being held at Hong Kong Football Club in Hong Kong.

In the first match Pakistan’s top-ranked player Mohammad Asim Khan went 3-2 down to World No 33 Raphael Kandra of Germany after a 58-minute-long clash which saw both players offering tough resistance.

After losing the first set 11-9, Asim made a smart fightback and won the next two sets 11-9, 11-9 to take 2-1 lead. However, Raphael put into practice everything he had and went on to win the next two sets 11-4, 11-9 to win the battle.

Nasir Iqbal, Pakistan’s most seasoned campaigner, then continued with his fine run and prevailed over Yannik Omlor 3-0 to bring parity for his country.

Nasir was seen in sublime form. He tackled his rival quite confidently, sealing an impressive 11-8, 11-2, 11-6 victory only in 27 minutes. Nasir has remained undefeated in the event so far.

Noor Zaman, Pakistan’s promising player, was expected to do well in his game against Simon Rosner but despite making a solid start he failed to maintain his rhythm and went 3-1 down.

The set score was 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 in Simon Rosner’s favor.

Pakistan’s coach Fahim Gul was not happy with the outcome of his charges against Germany.

“We should have won today's match,” Fahim told Nukta from Hong Kong.

“We tried our best but luck did not favor us. Now players will need to deliver against Canada,” he said.

Despite being out of the quarter-finals race Fahim is still happy, saying after a long gap they did well.

“But still I am happy that after a gap of eight years we played well. We are reviving our squash and you will see good results in near future,” said Fahim, also a former squash player.

Fahim lauded Nasir Iqbal for the way he played.

“Nasir gave his best performance and won all his matches but you yield good results only as a team when your other partners also click,” Fahim said.

He was not happy with the way Noor Zaman played against his German rival.

“He (Noor) could not play his usual game and lost rhythm,” Fahim said.

Pakistan now will face Canada in their classification round show on Thursday (tomorrow).

Pakistan, earlier, did well in their Group H winning all their three matches they played against Peru, Hong Kong and Italy and topped the group with six points.

This is the first time since 2017 that Pakistan is featuring in the World Team Championship.

India make it to quarters

Meanwhile India qualified for the quarter-finals after conquering Malaysia 2-1.

India had a bad start when Abay Singh went 2-1 down to Eain Yow NG with the game score being 13-11, 11-9, 11-5.

However, India made a fine fightback when Velavan Senthilkumar defeated Sanjay Jeeva 3-1 to bring parity.

After winning the first set 11-8, Malaysian staged a fightback with an 11-7 victory in the second set. However, it was Velavan who won the next two games 11-3, 11-4 to seal an emphatic win.

Veer Chotrani then did a super job for India when he whacked Mohammad Syafiq Mohd Kamal of Malaysia in straight games to put his side in the quarter-finals.

The game score was 11-8, 11-6, 11-5 in Veer’s favor.

India will now on Thursday (tomorrow) meet France in the quarter-finals. France crushed South Africa 2-0 in the pre-quarter-finals.