Pakistan secured a spot in the final of the Asian Doubles Squash Championship after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over host nation Malaysia in the semifinals held in Kuching on Wednesday.
The Pakistani duo of Noor Zaman and Nasir Iqbal edged past Malaysia’s Syafiq Kamal and Duncan Lee in a thrilling three-game encounter, with scores of 10-11, 11-9, 11-9. The tightly contested match lasted one hour and eight minutes.
With this victory, Pakistan will now face their arch-rivals and top-seeded India in the final. The Indian team, comprising Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar, is set to meet the in-form Pakistani pair in what is expected to be a high-intensity final.
Earlier in the tournament, Pakistan reached the semifinals by defeating South Korea 2-1 in the quarterfinals. Iqbal and Zaman overcame the Korean pair of Jiang Min Ryu and Jaijin Yoo in a close match, securing victory with scores of 11-3, 5-11, and 11-4.
Prior to the knockout rounds, Pakistan had a strong showing in the group stage. They secured a place in the quarterfinals by beating Chinese Taipei, with Noor and Nasir dominating Chi Yu-Wei and Chen Ching-Fu in straight sets, 11-2 and 11-9, in just 11 minutes.
Seeded second in the championship, the Pakistani team began their campaign with solid group-stage performances, including wins over the Philippines (11-7, 11-4) and South Korea.
Individually, Noor Zaman had earlier exited the Asian Individual Squash Championship after a narrow defeat in the pre-quarterfinals against Malaysia’s Joachim Chuah. Despite struggling with a back spasm and losing the first two games 3-11, 3-11, Zaman made a strong comeback to win the next two 11-3 and 12-10. However, Chuah clinched the decider 11-2, ending Zaman’s run in the singles event.
