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Pakistan returns to world squash podium after 37 years with Hamza's victory

Pakistan returns to world squash podium after 37 years with Hamza's victory

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Hamza Khan beats Egypt's Zakaria to win World Junior Squash Championship

MELBOURNE (Web Desk) - Becoming the country’s first champion after 37 years’ drought since 1986, Hamza Khan of Pakistan won the World Junior Squash Championship 2023 on Sunday, beating Egypt’s Mohamed Zakaria 3-1 in finale in Australian city Melbourne.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Hamza Khan on clinching the title of World Junior Squash Champion, 2023.

The prime minister thanked the new champion for winning the title for Pakistan after a gap of 37 years and observed that his win had reminded the triumph of Jansher Khan in 1986 World Squash championship, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.

The prime minister also extended his congratulations to Hamza’s parents, coach, team mates and the nation on the historic achievement and said the entire nation felicitated Hamza Khan for raising the national flag high in the game of squash. 

He expressed the hope that in future, Hamza Khan would once again make Pakistan as an invincible side in the game of squash. During the last fifteen months, the national players had brought laurels to home in mountaineering, boxing, squash and other games, he added.

Accoridng to PTV Sports, the last time a Pakistani made the finals was Amir Atlas in 2008, and the last winner from Pakistan was Jansher Khan in 1986.

Hamza had also won the U-15 title at the British Junior Open Squash Championship in 2020. After the victory, he thanked his coach, his managers and his parents for their support.

This is was Pakistan’s first World Junior Squash title in nearly four decades and as the last Pakistani player to lift this trophy was Jansher Khan, who won the title 37 years ago in 1986.

The final between Hamza and Zakaria started off in an excited manner with two back to back games, ending up in tiebreakers. However, Hamza convincingly won the following two games to seal the match. Meanwhile, congratulations started pouring in for Hamza on social media after the win.

PML-N’s Mohammad Zubair in his congratulatory message said, “Great news for Pakistan. Well done Hamza”. 

Peshawar Zalmi owner Javed Afridi congratulated Hamza, announcing Rs1 million as a “token of appreciation” from the Zalmi Foundation.

 

“There was a time Pakistan ruled the world of squash. Now we have another star in the making!” said ex-chairman of Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Dr Umar Saif.
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab termed Hamza’s win a “proud moment for all Pakistanis”.

Peshawar boy Hamza has a strong squash pedigree. The former World No 14 Shahid Zaman is his maternal uncle and the legendary Qamar Zaman happens to be a close relation. Zaman’s late wife was the sister of Hamza’s father.

 

Talking to Eos in 2020 about his early journey, Hamza gave credit to his father Niazullah.

“My father had represented Islamia College and the Peshawar University in inter-college and inter-university sports. He used to take me to the Hashim Khan Squash Complex where he would coach me. I usually practiced for half an hour like the other visitors there. Then, I appeared in the U-11 trials for the PAF Academy Peshawar, which took place at the same complex. I defeated all the other seven boys, including the then Pakistan U-11 champion, and got selected,” Hamza said.

From there onwards, squash became an integral part of the young man’s life. “We used to undergo intense physical training under an instructor in the mornings. Then after school it was back to the academy again, and from 2pm to 6pm it was all training and practice matches,” he said.

And then success arrived in the very first competitive venture. “When I won the Chief of Air Staff U-11 in 2016, I was called by the Pakistan Squash Federation [PSF] for training in Islamabad,” he said.

During the interview, Hamza said that his ultimate goal was to win major titles. “My ultimate goal is to bring back the big titles, the British Open and the World Open, to Pakistan,” he said.

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