Pakistan's Noor Zaman rises to career-best ranking

KARACHI: Pakistan's rising star Noor Zaman on Monday made a massive stride in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) world rankings, climbing up to a career-best 28th position.

Zaman, who made it until the quarter-final of the recently-concluded Optasia Squash Championship 2026, earned 450 tournament points, which improved his overall rating to 312.

The 22-year-old, as a result, jumped three places, pushing down England's Declan James, Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller and Colombia's Juan Vargas to secure a career-best 28th position in the world rankings.

His previous best ranking was 29th, which he achieved on March 2 this year.

Egypt's Mostafa Asal remained at the summit of the world rankings with 2639 points, followed by New Zealand's Paul Coll and Mexico's Diego Elias, who hold second and third spots, respectively.

Zaman, who clinched the Nash Cup title in September last year, took part in the Optasia Squash Championship earlier this month and showcased his potential by securing victories over Egypt's Mazen Hesham and Mexico's Leonel Cardenas.

The 22-year-old started his campaign with a hard-earned 3-2 victory over Hesham in an enthralling fixture, which lasted 46 minutes.

Zaman made a flamboyant start to the fixture as he clinched the opening game dominantly by 11-4, but Hesham hit back, winning the subsequent game 11-7 to neutralise the lead.

The fixture followed the same pattern in the next two games, with Zaman pulling ahead and Mazen levelling to force the decider.

Zaman brought his best performance in the decider as he outclassed Mazen 11-2 to round up a comprehensive 11-4, 7-11, 11-3, 12-14, 11-2 victory.

In his second match of the tournament, Zaman outclassed World No. 14, Cardenas, in straight games, securing a comprehensive 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 to qualify for the quarter-final, where he suffered an equally gruelling defeat at the hands of Elias, who finished as the runner-up.