ISLAMABAD - Pakistan former champion Zarak Jahan Khan’s son Shahjehan Khan made a huge upset in the Pakistan-Egypt squash exhibition series, as he recorded highly unlikely 3-2 victory against world number 17 Mazen Hisham to give Pakistan lifeline.
Earlier both Pakistanis Tayyab Aslam and Asim Khan had lost their matches played at PAF Museum, Karachi on late Wednesday night. Pakistan desperately needed Shahjehan to win the match or else Pakistan hopes of staying in the series would have ended. Shahjehan, world number 99, was up against Mazen but having his great dad Zarak at his back and strong crowd cheering and bucking, Shahjehan made a huge difference. Mazen, who had not played squash for the last few months due to injury, had no answers to the pace, agility and sharpness of Shahjehan.
It was simply unbelievable squash on offer, although Pakistan were 2-0 down in the series, but all the players had displayed tremendous skills and even Egyptian opponents were full of praise and lauded Tayyab and Asim for putting up such a brave show.
As expected, it was Mazen, who settled down well in the first game and kept young Shahjehan on the run, as he tried his level best and played some delightful squash, but it was Mazen who won the first game 11-8. After losing the first game, Shahjehan never lost heart and came back strongly in the second game to take it 11-9. In the third game, Shahjehan kept on piling pressure on his opponent and take it 11-5.
Surprisingly after taking decisive 2-1 lead, Shahjehan got relaxed and allowed his opponent to play freely. Mazen took full advantage of the situation and clinched the fourth game 11-9 and brought the match into fifth and deciding game. Shahjehan was not playing his natural game and looking confused and committing mistakes and at one stage, he was almost down and out and things were looking grim for Pakistan, but hats off to this young Pakistani, who bounced back from the brink and displayed sterling squash to take the fifth game 11-9, thus won the marathon encounter 3-2 in 71 minutes. The pack-to-capacity crowd rose up and gave standing ovation to both the players.
Earlier in the inaugural match of the series, world number 14 Ali Farag outclassed world number 144Asim Khan 3-0 in only 25 minutes. Asim had no answers to the power and accuracy of Ali, who dictated terms right from the start and won the match with utmost ease. Ali took the first game 11-6 and in the second game, Ali kept on playing awesome squash to wrap up the game 11-5 while he took the third game 11-2 to register first victory for Egypt. It was a delight to watch Egyptian magician displaying top quality squash, even the great Jahangir, Jansher, Qamar Zaman and other past greats were enjoying the match and were spell-bounded by the Egyptian, who won the encounter in only 25 minutes.
In the second match, Tayyab Aslam squandered 2-1 lead to go down 3-2 against world number 7 Karim Abdul Gawad. Karim took the first game 11-7, but it was all Tayyab in the next two games, who won the second game 11-7 and third 11-8. The things were looking highly positive for the hosts and the crowd was sensing upset victory, but all of sudden, Karim started playing awesome squash and won the fourth game 11-3 and then wrapped up the match by winning the fifth game 11-4 to give Egypt 2-0 lead.
Now the fate of the series rests on the shoulders of world number 58 Farhan Zaman who will take on world number 25 M Abouleghar on late Thursday night in the fourth match of the series, while world number 115 Farhan Mehboob will be in action against world number 6 Tarek Momin