Pakistan No. 2 and seeded one Samar Anjum of Pakistan Wapda clinched the trophy of the 7th ICMS National Ranking Women Squash Championship after defeating Pakistan No. 3 Riffat Khan, also from Wapda, in the thrilling final played here at PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex on Sunday.
Chairman ICMS Malik Tajamal Hayat was the chief guest on this occasion. Former World Champion and Vice President Pakistan Squash Federation Qamar Zaman, Nazim Nawa Khali, Sajjad Khan, Nadia Salahuddin, In-charge Pakistan Women Squash, Secretary General AIPs Asia Amjad Aziz Malik, OC PAF Sports Control Committee Khalid Khan, officials, players and large number of spectators were also present and witnessed the thrilling final.
Samar Anjum, who recently represented Pakistan in the US Circuit, played very excellently by giving no time to Riffat Khan to settle down. Riffat Khan tried her hard to settle down but failed and thus lost the match in straight sets. Riffat Khan was feeling not too good against Samar Anjum because of playing a tough semi-final against Muqqadas.
For Samar Anjum it was easy sailing as she mostly dominated the proceedings and display excellent stroke including some perfect drops, nicks and forceful smashes.
It was the second set wherein Riffat Khan was leading by 1-4 and 6-2 but Samar Anjum tied the tally first at 4-4 and then at 6-6 before taking the set. The same was the case wherein Samar did not take much time in eliminating Riffat by winning the third set 11-6 before leading at 8-1 and 8-2.
In the Under-15 category Nimra Aqeel defeated her younger sister Hira Aqeel in a marathon 3-2 battle and won the trophy. The score was 12-10, 6-11, 10-12 and 11-9. A total of 16 players each in both Senior and Under-15 categories took part. In the first semi-final Nimra Aqeel beat Naima Khalid by 3-0, the score was 11-8, 11-9 and 11-7 and Hira beat Maira by 3-0 in the second semi-final, the score was 11-6, 11-4 and 11-8.
At the end, the chief guest Malik Tajamal Hayat gave away trophies and cash prizes. The winner was awarded Rs 20,000 as cash prize while the runners-up got Rs 14000. He also announced that Rs 150,000 will be the prize money instead of Rs 100,000. He said girls' squash tournaments at Inter-District will also be organized with the aim to promote the game among female of other districts as well.