Tayyab grabs Pakistan International Squash title

ISLAMABAD: World No 60 Tayyab Aslam’s persistent approach accounted for high-flying Farhan Mehb­oob for men’s title in the $20,000 Serena Hotels-Huawei Pakistan International Squash Tournament that also saw Sabrina Sobhy (USA) lifting the women’s trophy.

The final turned out to be anticlimax for Farhan who had toppled top seed Youssef Ibrahim in the semi-final. Tayyab did not allow Farhan to settle down winning in 40 minutes 11-8, 13-11, 11-4 to land the title and grab some important points on the PSA ranking list.

Following his dazzling performance in the semi-final, Farhan Mehboob was unable to match fast moving Tayyab and looked shadow of his previous day’s performance. Farhan’s effort to hit one after another winner proved counter-productive as Tayyab took good measure of his opponent with some consistent approach that saw him picking all the tough and demanding shots sent in by Farhan.

Farhan at the end started losing the tempo and conceded some easy points especially in the second game. Tayyab was quick to take 6-0 lead in the second after winning the first rather easily. Though Farhan Mehboob staged a brief recovery in the second game that saw him catching up at 7-7, he could not maintain the same tempo. The extended second game saw Tayyab making full use of Farhan’s mistakes to go 2-0 up.

The third game was a one-sided affair with Farhan mentally never looked in a mood to make a match out of final. He started conceding one point after another rather tamely enabling his opponent to win the title.

“I worked hard all these days on my fitness and have training hard just before the event. After winning the South Asian Games gold medal, I knew I had a chance in the event as my morale was high,” Tayyab said after his stunning performance.

He added that he knew he had a chance against Farhan even though he toppled No 1 seed.

“My game is a bit different to that of Youssef who was beaten by Farhan. I tried to frustrate Farhan and I succeeded in that.”

Meanwhile, world No 52 Sabrina Sobhy (USA) defeated Egyptian world No 101 Hana Moataz 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 to win ladies $12,000 title.

“Playing in Pakistan has always been a good experience for me. Playing the final in front of packed to capacity surroundings is surely very encouraging,” Sabrina said.

She hoped to improve her ranking with the win.

Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Aasim Zaheer graced the closing ceremony as the chief guest and awarded prizes and trophies to the finalist players.

Serena Hotels CEO Aziz Bolani, squash legend Qamar Zaman, dignitaries and a large number of players, officials and squash enthusiasts also attended the closing ceremony.