Nasir Iqbal clinched the individual squash gold medal beating compatriot Farhan Zaman in straight games in the final to win gold medal in South Asian Games being held in India. Nasir defeated Farhan Zaman 14-12, 11-7 and 11-9 in straight sets. Former Pakistan Sports Board Weightlifting coach Farman Ali said that he was feeling proud of his son winning gold medal in South Asian Games. "It was indeed a great day for Pakistan when my son (Nasir Iqbal) won gold medal in SA Games and another promising Pakistani player Farhan Zaman got silver medal," a jubilant Farman Ali told APP here on Thursday.
He said that the final between Nasir and Farhan gave me eminence joy as it doesn't matter who win or lose as both the players were from Pakistan." Nasir Iqbal, hailing from a remote village of District Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is currently Pakistan No 1 and Rank 35 in the world, is also a leading player of Pakistan in Professional Squash Association after joining the circuit in way back 2008.
Nasir starred on home-soil in his first title win, upsetting Yasir Ali Butt in the final after Iqbal had begun the event unseeded. Four of his first five PSA World Tour titles came in his home country before he took to the United States to win the Emerson Racquet Club Pro Series in January 2014.
Iqbal earned his first PSA M15 title at the Pakistan International Circuit beating Aamir Atlas Khan in the final, and returned to win two consecutive titles in Pakistan at the beginning of 2015. Iqbal picked up his 10th PSA World Tour title at the President Gold Cup in November and moved to the top 40 players in the world. It is worth mentioning here that before the South Asian Games both Nasir Iqbal and Farhan Zaman were sent to US Circuit by Pakistan Squash Federation to get much updated training that truly worked, Farman disclosed.
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