Pakistan's Hamza Khan wins World Junior Squash Championship

KARACHI: After 37 long years, Pakistan has again become World Junior Squash champion as young Hamza Khan made a comeback to beat his Egyptian rival Mohamed Zakaria to win the finale in Melbourne on Sunday.

Khan claimed a 3-1 victory over Zakaria in the finale, with a scoreline of 10-12, 14-12, 11-3 and 11-6.

🇵🇰 PAKISTAN’S FIRST CHAMPION SINCE 1986!

Hamza Khan comes from behind to win the 2023 WSF World Junior Squash Championship!

Result: WSF World Junior Squash Championships Men’s Final

🇵🇰 [3/4] Hamza Khan bt [3/4] Mohamed Zakaria 🇪🇬
3-1: 10-12, 14-12, 11-3, 11-6#WSFjuniors pic.twitter.com/mKsEkEFknO

— World Squash (@WorldSquash) July 23, 2023

This was Pakistan’s first World Junior Squash title in nearly four decades 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 exciting manner with two back-to-back games, ending up in tiebreakers. However, Hamza convincingly took the following two games to complete a 3-1 win.

Hamza qualified for the final of the World Junior Squash Championship on Saturday. French player Melvil Scianimanico fought back from two games and match ball down but Hamza prevailed in the decider to qualify for the final.