ISLAMABAD - Second seed Pakistani Israr Ahmad stunned Malaysian top seed Ng Eain Yow 3-2 in 61 minutes of highly-tensed final to clinch the 22nd Asian Junior Individual Squash Championship title in Tehran on Thursday. The 18-year-old Pakistani told The Nation that he played his heart out and tried to ensure Asian Junior title remained in Pakistan's grasp, as Asim Khan, who was third seed for the event, could not make it to the event due to health reasons.
The Pakistani players had managed to hold on to the junior title since 2012, when Danish won the title, followed by Ali Bokhari in 2013 and Tayyab Aslam last year. All hopes of winning the title for Pakistan were on Israr's shoulders, who did it with his determination and hard work. Israr started the final slowly and lost the first game 7-11, but after that, he went onto take next two games 11-7, 13-11, before losing the fourth 8-11. Israr changed gear in the fifth and final game, his planning paid off and he completely outclassed Eain in the final 11-6 to clinch the title for the very first time in his career.
Talking to The Nation, Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) secretary Group Captain Amir Nawaz termed victory a gift for the entire nation and promised many more titles would start to come in Pakistan's way thick and fast in a short span of time.