Webdesk: Hamza Khan qualified for the final of the World Junior Squash Championship on Saturday. He is the first Pakistani to make the final in 15 years. The final will be held in Melbourne.
Melvil Scianimanico of France came back after being down two games and match ball, but Hamza won the third game and moved on to the final.
With scores of 11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 9-11, and 13-11, Hamza won the match.
Hamza is the first player from Pakistan to get to the final since Aamir Atlas in 2008.
Earlier, the young Pakistani beat Joachim Chuah of Malaysia 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, and 12-10 to get into the final four.
Hamza beat Santamaria of Colombia 3-2 in a close pre-quarterfinal match on Thursday and moved on to the next round.
In the round of 16, Hamza beat Samuel Grates of the Netherlands by scores of 12-10, 11-6, 11-3, and 11-7.
Huzaifa Khan of Pakistan, on the other hand, lost to Rishi Srivastava of the USA and was kicked out of the final race.
Huzaifa and Rishi played a five-set match that kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Even though the American won the first two sets 11-9 and 11-8, it looked like the Pakistani would lose. However, Huzaifa fought back and played bravely to win the next two sets 11-8 and 11-8.
In the last set, however, Rishi beat Huzaifa 11-9 and moved on to the pre-quarterfinal.
Pakistan sent three players to the championship: Hamza Khan, Moeen-ud-din, and Huzaifa Ibrahim Khan.
Hamza made it to the semi-finals of the World Juniors last year, but lost to England’s Finnlay Withington. Huzaifa, on the other hand, used to be the number one youth player in Asia.
