Squash ace Hamza Khan achieves career high world ranking

Staff Report

LAHORE: Pakistan’s renewed dominance of squash was cemented in the latest global rankings as former world junior champion Hamza Khan reached a career high ranking of 86, while compatriots Noor Zaman and Ashab Irfan also improved their standings. Hamza jumped 14 spots in the PSA World Rankings to reach the career milsetone on December 1. The 20-year-old was something of a globe-trotter this year as he competed across Australia and Spain over the summer, then France in November, before returning to Pakistan. He reached the quarter-finals of the Swarmer South Australian Open in May before clinching the Northern Star Resources Golden Open title a month later. Hamza lost the Valencia Open final to Spaniard Iker Pajares in August, which saw him break into the top 100 world rankings that week. He largely floated around that ranking for the next few months before jumping up several places after narrowly losing the final of the CAS Serena International Squash Championship last week, where compatriot Noor Zaman retained his title. The copper-level event saw Noor emerge victorious 3-2 in a thrilling 46-minute match (9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8). Noor’s win saw him climb five sports to world number 38, just one spot shy of his career best ranking of 37 achieved in October, which saw him enter the top 50 world rankings. Meanwhile, Ashab Irfan improved one notch to equal his career best of 47 this week.