Israr faces Nasir in CNS Squash decider

KARACHI: Israr Ahmed and Nasir Iqbal qualified for the men’s final of the second CNS All Pakistan Squash Championship here at the Pakistan Navy Roshan Khan-Jahangir Khan Squash Complex on Saturday.

Nasir of Wapda was declared an 11-4, 4-0 winner against his Wapda mate Farhan Mehboob in their semi-final as the latter was retired hurt.

The second last-four clash between Israr of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Waqar Mehboob stretched to a five-game seesaw battle that lasted 52 minutes.

While Israr took the first game 11-5, Waqar came back strongly to bag the next two games with an identical scoreline of 11-8. Israr however regained his composure and comfortably won the fourth game 11-3 and then wrapped up the match by clinching the decisive game 11-8.

On the women’s side, Noor-ul-Ain of Wapda and Zaynab Khan of Army reached the final.

Noor beat Mehwish Ali, also of Wapda, 11-4, 12-10, 11-8 in the semi-final that continued for 22 minutes while Zaynab in the other semi-final overcame her Mariam Malik, another Army player, 11-5, 11-13, 11-7, 11-8 in 33 minutes.