Pakistan's number 1 squash player Aamir Atlas Khan thrashed Abdullah Al-Mezayne ofKuwait3-0 in the final to lift the coveted 17th FMC Asian Senior Individual Squash Championship 2013 played here at Mushaf Ali Mir Squash Complex on Sunday.

Aamir, despite not being fully fit as he was struggling with groin injury throughout the event, played one of the best games to completely outclass the third and world no 13 Abdullah. Aamir stamped out his superiority right from the start of the first game and won it 11-9 as Abdullah provided tough resistance. But the second game was a completely one-sided affair as Aamir completely outclassed Abdullah and he raced on to win the second game 11-3.

Aamir was not in a mood to let Abdullah off the hook as he raced on to a comfortable 7-1 lead in the third game, before Abdullah bounced back and won next six points in a row to level the game at 7-7. Aamir who was in a hurry to finish the match, got back his momentum and won the next three points to take 10-7 lead. Abdullah saved one match point but Aamir took the next opportunity to take the game 11-8, thus winning the championship in only 26 minutes. It is pertinent to mention here thatPakistanmanaged to win Asian title after a gap of 15 years, as Zarak Jahan Khan was the last Pakistani to lift this title way back in 1998.

In the ladies final, number two seed Anni Au of Hong Kong defeated top seed and world number 7 Malaysian Low Wee winning the final 5/11, 11/8, 11/7 and 11/1 in 44 minutes. Low started the final as firm favourite and she lived to that pre-match haype eputation as she won the first game 11-5. But she was totally outclassed by the determined Anni who took the next three games in a row, winning the second game 11-8, third 11/7 and fourth with a thumping 11/1 to the much of delight of Asian Squash Federation president David Mui, who was clearly looking very happy as his native country's girl lifted the title and that too by beating her bitter rival.

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, who is also the President of Pakistan Squash Federation graced the ceremony as chief guest, while Malaysian High Commissioner, SVP Air Vice marshal Syed Razi Nawab, former world squash champion Qamar Zaman, FMC MD Shahid Farooq, ASF president Shahid Farooq with other dignitaries were also present on the occasion. The chief guest presented the trophies to both male and female champions and runners up along with other plate winners and losers.

PSF president wants collective efforts for game

Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) would announce a respectable cash incentive for the newly crowned Asian Squash champion Aamir Atlas Khan soon, PSF president Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt said this while talking exclusively with The Nation on Sunday.

He said the PSF always buck up players despite having t limited resources and it was also the duty of others to lend a helping hand to federation and actively help the players and federation in producing world-class players. He said multi nationals and national institutes and government must take notice of such a great achievement by our hero Aamir Atlas. He said airlines should also come forward and at least provide the bright players with air tickets so they could participate in PSA events to improve their world rankings. “Our players are not less than any other top ranked players. They lag behind just because of low international rankings. Farhan Mahboob had beaten the top seed in the quarterfinal, Aamir had beaten defending champion who is much higher ranked player and now world number 13 in the final.

He highly lauded the services of SVP Air Vice Marshal Razi Nawab and Secretary Abdul Wahab Marwat and termed their working as exceptional. When this correspondent asked about the biased refereeing in the semi-final against Farhan, he said as hosts we didn’t want to discuss such pity issues. He said it would have highly appreciable had Farhan also won his match and played the final but now that was past so no need of going into these issues. While sharing his views SVP Syed Razi Nawab announced a cash prize of Rs 100,000 for Aamir Khan and he promised to provide cash incentives to Farhan Mahboob and head coach Jamshed Gul too.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari and Interim Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso also extended their felicitations to the newly-crowned Asian Squash champ while KPK Governor called Aamir to congratulate him and announced to host a reception in his honour.