Pakistan bag 3 gold medals in Asian Jr Squash

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan junior squash players, led by talented under-19 Abbas Zeb, made the country proud by winning three out of four gold medals at stake in the Asian Junior Championship in front of Indian crowd in Chennai Saturday.

Abbas Zeb scooped up under-19 Asian title beating Chung Yat Long (Hong Kong) in a one-sided final 11-4, 11-3,11-4. Abbas was so dominant that he did not give any chance to Hong Kong player to make a match of the final. After beating the top seed Malaysian the other day, it was sort of cake walk for Abbas Zeb who took just 25 minutes to show Long the door.

It turned out to be a tough final for Harris Qasim in under-17. Harris took more than a honour to beat Malaysian top player Amir Azhar 10-12, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9 to win the Asian under-17 gold. After losing the first two games Harris came back strong to win the next three to earn yet another title for the country.

Prior to his gold medal highly talented Muhammad Hamza outclassed Indian opponent Arnav Sareen in straight games 11-6, 11-9 and 11-9 to win Asian under-15 category. Hamza was so dominant that he never allowed Indian to take the final to fourth game. Under-13 title was the only one that eluded Pakistan as Anas Ali Shah ended up with silver medal losing a close final to Indian Yuvraj Wadhwani. 11-13, 5-11, 11-6 and 10-12.