Anas Ali Shah overcomes Mohammad Ammad 3-2 in Boys’ Under-19 final

Abdul Jabbar Faisal

ISLAMABAD:-Anas Ali Shah from Pakistan Army overcame Mohammad Ammad from Pakistan Air Force (PAF) 3-2 in the Boys’ Under-19 final of the 1st Quaid-e-Azam National Championship, 2023 at Mushaf Squash Complex, Islamabad on Wednesday. The final score-line was 12-10, 11-13, 10-12, 11-9, and 11-7, as the championship match lasted 59 minutes.

In the Boys’ Under-19 final, both players, Anas Ali Shah and Mohammad Ammad were in superb form and exhibited top-quality squash and amused the sizeable number of squash lovers at the four-wall glass court, as the Anas won the first at 12-10 on a tie-break. At one stage, Anas was downed 5-7 and he bounced back in the game by hitting thrice consecutive points, as the game was leveled at 8-8, and 10-10, which was won by Anas at 12-10.

The second and third games were full of powerful strokes, nicks, and classic drop shorts from both national squash lads. The second game was squared at 3-3, 9-9, and 10-10, as at one stage Anas was crawling behind Mohammad Ammad at 3-6. Ammad won the third game that went up neck-to-neck on Tie-break at 13-11, he played the third game with the same pace and won at 12-10 to earn a lead in the match 2-1.

Anas won the last two games at 11-9 and 11-7 to clinch the title of the first Quaid-e-Azam National Championship. Squash legend and vice president of Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), Qamar Zaman graced the ceremony as chief guest and distributed the prizes among the players. Zubair Sheikh (GM Shell Lubricants, Pakistan) has also witnessed the final matches.

Results (Finals):

Boys’ U-9: Atif Ali Naz (KP) beat Rayyan Zaman (KP) 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6 (20 min)

Boys’ U-11: Harmas Raja (PB) beat Ahmed Ali Naz (KP) 5-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8 (30 min)

Boys’ U-13: Mohammad Fawad (KP) beat Sohail Adnan (PB) 11-8, 8-11, 6-11-9, 11-6 (32 min)

Boys’ U-15: Azan Ali (Army) beat Nouman Khan (Army) 7-11, 4-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 (38 min)

Boys’ U-17: Abdullah Nadeem (PB) beat Huraira Khan (KP) 13-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-4 (23 min)

Boys’ U-19: Anas Ali Shah (Army) beat Mohammad Ammad (PAF) 12-10, 11-13, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7 (59 min)

Girls’ U-15: Sehrish Ali (Sindh) beat Rania Qazi (KP) 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4 (20 min)

Girls U-19: Mehwish (Sindh) beat Sana Bahadur (Army) 13-11, 10-12, 11-7, 13-11 (26min).