KARACHI: Falling short of the gold, Pakistan on Thursday secured silver medal at the Asian Doubles Squash Championship after a valiant performance in the men’s doubles final, where they went down 2-1 to arch-rivals India in Malaysia.
The Pakistani duo of Noor Zaman and Nasir Iqbal fought hard but eventually succumbed to the Indian pair of Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar, who successfully defended their Asian title with a 9-11, 11-5, 11-5 victory.
The intense final lasted one hour and 27 minutes.
It is pertinent to mention that Zaman and Iqbal had delivered an impressive campaign en route to the final.
In the semifinals on Wednesday, the pair edged past host nation Malaysia in a tightly contested three-game match, winning 10-11, 11-9, 11-9 in a clash that stretched to one hour and eight minutes.
They overcame Malaysia’s experienced duo of Syafiq Kamal and Duncan Lee to book their place in the final.
Earlier, Pakistan earned a 2-1 victory over Korea in the quarterfinals. The Iqbal-Zaman pair emerged victorious in another thrilling contest against Jiang Min Ryu and Jaijin Yoo, with game scores of 11-3, 5-11, 11-4.
The Pakistani team also performed strongly in the group stage, where they secured qualification to the knockouts with a comprehensive win over Chinese Taipei.
Nasir and Noor dispatched Chi Yu-Wei and Chen Ching-Fu in straight sets, 11-2, 11-9, in just 11 minutes.
Seeded second in the tournament, Pakistan started their campaign on Monday with dominant wins over the Philippines (11-7, 11-4) and South Korea, showcasing consistent form throughout the championship.
Individually, Noor Zaman had previously competed in the Asian Individual Squash Championship, where he bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals after a hard-fought five-game battle against Malaysia’s Joachim Chuah.
Battling a back spasm, Zaman lost the first two games 3-11, 3-11, made a comeback by taking the next two 11-3, 12-10, but eventually fell 2-11 in the decider.
