Nasir Iqbal Wins His Eight Consecutive Int'l Title, Beat Noor 3-0 In PSF-KP Satellite Final

PESHAWAR, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2020 ) :Nasir Iqbal of Pakistan clinched his eight consecutive International title after defeating his young rival promising Noor Zaman 3-0 in the final of the PSF-KP International Satellite Squash Tournament played at Qamar Zaman Squash Complex, Qayyum Stadium here on Sunday.

Secretary Higher education KP Daud Khan was the chief guest and witnessed the finals of the Women and Men categories. Member of the KP Squash Association Ihsan Ullah Khan, Member Executive Wazir Gul and Sher Bahadur, District sports Officer Peshawar Tehsin Ullah Khan, Director Development Niamat Ullah Khan, Chief Referee and Secretary KP Squash Association Munawar Zaman, his coach Tahir Iqbal Khan, players and good numbers of spectators were there during the final match.

Nasir continued his winning spree taking no time in beating Noor by 3-0, the score was 11-9, 11-7 and 11-3 in 18-minute. Nasir Iqbal played well and fully dominated the proceedings by giving no time to Noor to settle down. Noor also played well in his earlier matches and reached the final.

In the Women final, both top seed Amna Fayyaz and second seed Faiza Zafar played well against each other in the final which lasted for 28-minutes. Amna Fayyaz took the first set by 10-12 with her excellent smashes and two nicks and as many drops shorts but when super-fit Faiza Zafar settled down, she dictated her own term that could not reach by Amna and lost three consecutive sets by 11-6, 11-5 and 11-6. Faiza Zafar fully dominated and did not give Amna to stage a comeback and thus marched into win at 3-1.

Highest world ranked 246, Noor played well against his strong rival Nasir Iqbal in the grand final witnessed by the capacity crowd present on this occasion. It was the eight consecutive final Nasir played against his young rival promising Noor Zaman, who was getting coaching from his father Munawar Zaman, the sitting secretary KP Squash Association. Joined Professional Squash Association in 2019, Noor played excellently with his nick and drops while Nasir showed his class with his forceful cross-court smashes that could not be read by Noor Zaman on some occasions.

Runner-up of Meraj Ltd. Sindh Open Squash Circuit-II recently, Noor represented Pakistan in British Open Junior and was the semi-finalist in U15 category and winner of the All Pakistan KP National Junior Squash Championship U17 in 2019, Doha and Qatar Open in Junior U17 category in 2019.

Nasir Iqbal, born on April 1, 1994 in Bannu, won the prestigious British Junior Open U13 category in 2007 by defeating Fadi Tharwat in 41 minutes. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 35 in February 2016. He won the President Gold Cup International Squash Championship, 2015 beating Todd Harrity and grabbed seven consecutive PSA titles so far with his great comeback. He won five International Satellite Tournaments held in Karachi, one each in Balochistan, Lahore with his current ranking is 234 in the World and now secured victory in PSF-KP.

He also won Balochistan International Closed Satellite PSA event in Quetta Balochistan. His USA based coach Jahanzeb Masood also eulogized over his continuous hard work and winning title after title.

Jahanzeb Masood while talking to APP appreciated Nasir Iqbal for his hard work and expressed the hope that he would do his best in the coming days.

"I played my eight PSA tournament here in Peshawar and Alhamdo Lillah won it. This is not a moment of outpouring joy, attracting media attention or answering critics. Rather this is the time of self-reflection, gratitude and extreme focus toward the ultimate goal, which is to represent my country Pakistan on the world stage with honor and dignity," Nasir Iqbal said.

"In previous four years the banning period means (365x4) 1460 days I was away from competitive squash. These years were the most challenging in my life, but there was not a single day where I lost hope and compromised on my dream to ultimately represent Pakistan," he said.

"Now that Almighty Allah has given me that opportunity, I would like to humbly thank all those pillars of support who held me together. My parents who prayed for me day and night and my Coaches Tahir Iqbal Khan (Pakistan) and Jahanzeb Masood (USA) who worked really hard with me on and off court and many others including Additional Secretary Sports Junaid Khan, DG Sports KP Asfandyar Khan and obviously Pakistan Wapda for extending support to me," he added. He also appreciated Pakistan Squash Federation for five back-to-back Satellite events in Karachi and one each in Balochistan, Punjab and KP that help lower rank players to jump up and get some world ranking points.

At the end, the chief guest gave away trophies and cash prizes to the winners and runners-up players of both Men and Women categories.