By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Hamza Khan ended a 37-year wait for Pakistan by winning the World Junior Squash Championship title on Sunday, defeating Egypt’s Mohamed Zakaria in a thrilling final in Melbourne.
The 18-year-old from Peshawar, who comes from a family of squash legends, overcame the top seed 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8 in a nail-biting contest at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
It was Pakistan’s first world junior title since Jansher Khan, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, triumphed in 1986, and only the third overall after Jansher and Qamar Zaman.
Khan is the nephew of former world number 14 Shahid Zaman and a close relation of Zaman, another squash legend who won the British Open in 1975.
Khan, who had reached the final with a stunning upset of France’s Melvil Scianimanico on Saturday, showed nerves of steel to overcome Zakaria, who was bidding to become the youngest champion in history at 15.
After losing the first game 10-12, Khan fought back to take the second 14-12 and then dominated the third 11-3 to seal his historic victory in front of a packed crowd at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
“I would like to thank Allah, and my thanks to my coaches, my managers, thanks to everybody. And thanks to my parents, who support me every single time. Thank you,” Khan said after receiving the trophy.
Pakistan has a rich tradition in squash, producing some of the greatest players of all time such as Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Azam Khan, and Qamar Zaman, who won a combined 14 World Open titles between them in the 1980s and 1990s.
However, the country had not produced a world junior champion since Jansher, who went on to win eight senior world titles and six British Open crowns.
Khan’s triumph was hailed as a “huge achievement” back home and President Arif Alvi congratulated him on Twitter and recalled Pakistan’s “unprecedented and yet unmatched supremacy in squash”.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated young Khan for bringing the title back to Pakistan after nearly four decades and hoped that he would make Pakistan “invincible” in the sport in the near future, Radio Pakistan reported.
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