Pakistan's Noor Zaman, Ashab Irfan advance to Nash Cup semi-finals in Canada

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Ashab Irfan delivered one of the standout performances of the Nash Cup Squash tournament on Friday, pulling off a dramatic comeback to knock out India's Veer Chotrani and secure a place in the semifinals.

Ashab, seeded No. 8, looked in trouble early as Chotrani, the No. 4 seed, took control of the match with a 9-11, 4-11 start.

But the 21-year-old Pakistani regrouped impressively to make a comeback after going two sets down, using aggressive shot-making and sharp retrievals to turn the momentum in his favour. He claimed three straight games 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 to seal a 3-2 victory.

The result confirmed Ashab’s reputation as one of Pakistan’s brightest growing squash prospects.

In another match, Pakistan’s Noor Zaman also booked his place in the last four with a 3-1 win over Colombia’s Ronald Palomino. The fifth seed started strongly with an 11-4 opening game, dropped the second 10-12, but quickly regained control to close out the match 11-7, 11-7 in 52 minutes.

With both Ashab Irfan and Noor Zaman advancing, Pakistan will have two representatives in the semifinals of the $31,250 tournament, which is a PSA world series event.

The duo stormed into the knockout stage of the tournament, with Zaman beating Argentina’s Jeremias Azana 3-1, while Irfan edging past Malaysia’s Sanjay Jeeva in a five-game thriller.

After taking the opening game 11-6, Zaman dropped a close second 12-14 before regaining control to edge the third 12-10 and close out the match 11-7 in the fourth. The encounter lasted 57 minutes.

Irfan started strong with an 11-5 win in the first game, but Jeeva responded by taking the second 11-5. Irfan regained momentum in the third with an 11-4 victory before Jeeva forced a decider by claiming the fourth 11-7.

In the deciding game, Irfan held his nerve to seal the contest 11-6 after 63 minutes on court.