Mumbai, July 6: Egyptian qualifier Ali Farag shocked third seed Nasir Iqbal of Pakistan 3-2 to clinch the title in the USD 25,000 2nd CCI-PSA International Squash Championship here today.
Twenty-two-year-old Farag, ranked 190 in the world, snatched a 11-7 7-11 5-11 11-1 11-9 win over the Asian senior champion from Peshawar, in an absorbing championship round that lasted 55 minutes, to cap a brilliant run in the event held at the Cricket Club of India’s courts.
Farag, who ousted top seed Saurav Ghosal of India in the opening round, eighth seed Kristian Frost Olesen of Denmark in the quarter-finals and compatriot and sixth seed Zahed Mohamed in the semi-finals, completed his giant-killing run with the victory over Iqbal to end a rewarding campaign.
The finalists, who faced each other four years ago in the World Juniors team final, treated the packed gallery to entertaining squash with impressive strokes as they stretched the contest right down to the wire.
Farag, the 2010 World Junior and former junior British Open champion, recovered brilliantly from 1-2 down after winning the opening game and overcame a late burst from the Pakistan No. 1 to win the riveting decider by a whisker after leading 6-3.
“It was a very tough match. He came back by playing better and smarter especially in the fifth game and all I had to do was keep going,” said Faraq.
“It was a close match and anybody could have won. As much I wanted to win the title, this tournament was very good for me,” said the beaten Pakistani finalist. (PTI)
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