Hamza Khan & Humam Ahmad win Silver in US 2018 Junior Open Squash Championship

Out of 128 players from 50 countries Pakistan's promising players Humam Ahmad and Hamza Khan got silver medals in the US 2018 Junior Open Squash Championship at Andover, Philip Academy, Boston USA.

In the Under-13 final Humam Ahmad lost the final 2-3 against India’s Rohan A Gondhi. Hamam lost the first game 4-11 but bounced back well to take the second game 12-10. The Pakistani lad lost the third game 10-12, before winning the fourth 12-10.

Humam was playing his fifth game after leveling the game tally 2-2 and was up at 4-2, 6-2, 8-6, 8-7 and even 9-7 when he given a conduct warning stroke to Rohan A Gondhi of India,making his score to 9-8. 

Similarly another error was made by the referee and instead of giving point to Humam to make it 10-8, he again given two more points as conduct warning stroke and game to Rohan A Gondhi and thus Rohan won the last and decisive set at 11-9. Team coach Muhammad Asif also registered players’ concern about the refereeing to the organizers.But some poor decisions by referees cost Hamam fifth game 9-11 and the final. 

Earlier, Humam Ahmad beat Ahmad Haq from USA with a game score of 11/7, 11/6 and 11/9 in the seminal while in the quarterfinal Humam Ahmad beat Salem Youssef from Egypt with a game score of 13/11, 9/11, 8/11, 11/8 and 13/11. 

In the under-15 final, Muhammad Hamza Khan showed outstanding squash skills but lost 1-3 against the local lad Carney Tedd. Hamza won the first game 11-8 but lost the second 8-11, third 6-11 and fourth 17-11 to finish runner-up. 

Earlier,in the semifinal Hamza was up against the top seed and hot-favourite Sosa Federico. But Hamza never paid any heed towards superior ranking of the opponent and just focused on his game plan. Hamza won the first game 11/7, he took second game 11/6 and third game 11/9 to reach the finals. 

“Our players had to suffer in the finals due to poor refereeing and the federation is taking up the issue with PSA and at every platform, as we always ensure top class refereeing when the tournaments are held in Pakistan.” PSF Game Development Officer Squadron Leader Aamir Iqbal said.

PSF President Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan and Senior Vice President Air Marshal Shahid Akhtar Alvi lauded the performances of Pakistani players in the championship and congratulated them on giving outstanding results.

Meanwhile, Pakistani contingent comprising Haris Qasim, Farhan Hashmi, Asad Ullah Khan, M Ashab Irfan and Anas Ali Shah departed from Islamabad for participation in the British Junior Squash Championship, 2019 at Birmingham. Manager Air Commodore (R) Aftab Sadiq Qureshi along with coaches Muhammad Yasin and Fazal Shah also accompanied the contingent.

The Championship would be played from January 2 to 6 January, 2019. The players would remain under training for 10 days in UK so that they could perform well and produce outstanding results during the championship, while Abbas Zeb, Muhammad Hamza Khan, Noor Zaman and Humam Ahmad, who are currently playing in US Junior Championship would also join them in training at UK.