Egypt’s promising youngster and World 55 Salman Khalil on Tuesday sizzled as he romped to a superb 3-0 victory over Pakistan’s experienced campaigner Nasir Iqbal to win the Pakistan Navy Fleet Cub International Squash Championship which concluded here at the Roshan Khan-Jehangir Khan Squash Complex.

The set score was 14-12, 11-3, 13-11.

Unlike expectations the decider turned out to be a one-sided affair in favour of the third seed Khalil. Khalil displayed fine skills to annex the crown. Nasir, who had done extremely well in the entire tournament, did not show the kind of resilience which was expected from the Peshawar-born player who has been serving the nation since long.

The first set was  the best of the three  as both contenders  extended terrific resistance to each other before the Egyptian pocketing it 14-12.

In the second set Khalil was even more ruthless and did not allow at all Nasir to show enough resistance.

Khalil secured 11-3 win in this set.

In the third set Nasir tried his level best to stage a fight-back. He also played some fine shots but failed to prevent Khalil from victory as he won the set 13-11 to seal a solid title victory.

Nasir Iqbal was happy despite losing the final.

“It was a good tournament for me as it will help boost my ranking and will pace way for getting call-ups for major events,” Nasir told reporters.

Meanwhile Salman Khalil said that it was a good win for him.

“It was a nice here and I am happy. It was a rough final as I had to move around the whole court,” Khalil said.

Commander Karachi Vice Admiral Faisal Amin presented trophies and prizes to the players. Former world champion Jehangir Khan and former Sindh Governor Moinuddin Haider also attended the closing ceremony. The championship carried a purse of $41,000.

Speaking at the prize distribution ceremony, Vice Admiral Faisal Amin said the successful staging of the tournament reflected the Pakistan Navy’s continued commitment to supporting sports and promoting squash in the country.

Sindh Squash Association’s President Adnan Asad said the association planned to organize several more high-prize-money tournaments in the near future to provide greater opportunities for players. He urged athletes to continue working hard to improve their performances.

Jahangir Khan said he hoped Pakistani players would qualify for the squash competition at the Los Angeles Olympics and compete for the gold medal. He added that aspiring players must dedicate themselves to training and focus solely on improving their game if they wished to emulate the achievements of Pakistan’s legendary champions, including Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan.

It was not a very bad event for Nasir who on Monday had whipped Yassin Elshafei of Egypt in straight sets to qualify for the semi-finals.

In the quarter-finals Nasir had downed former world junior champion Hamza Khan 3-2 after a gripping encounter. In the pre-quarter-finals Nasir had conquered Yassin Shohdy of Egypt 3-0. And, earlier, Nasir started well his journey with a 3-0 victory over Switzerland’s Louai Hafez, a battle which lasted for 37 minutes that provided him a good momentum.

Meanwhile young Salman Khalil had defeated Mohammad Asim Khan of Pakistan 3-1 in the pre-final to book a seat in the decider. Earlier Khalil whacked Mohamed Nasser of Egypt 3-0 in the quarter-finals. In the pre-quarter-finals Khalil defeated Yee Xian Siow of Malaysia.

Pakistan’ premier player and top seed Noor Zaman, who is World No 29, had fallen in the quarter-finals to Asim Khan 3-1 after the former developed injury in the fourth set.

Almost all top Pakistani players were part of the event. Pakistani athletes will need to lift titles and extend better performances in coming months. As squash has been included in the  2028 Los Angeles Olympics and only top performances and better world rankings will be required from them if they are to qualify for the world’s most prestigious extravaganza.

Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) will need to make a solid plan and facilitate top seeds so that they could earn Olympics spots.