ISLAMABAD - Danish Atlas Khan clinched $10,000 Life Time Chicago Open 2015 title after thrashing compatriot Farhan Zaman 3-1 in the 70-minute entertaining final played on Monday.
Danish also took sweet revenge of his loss in the 2013 final against the same opponent in Peshawar when Farhan had beaten Danish for the very first time in his squash career. Danish was eager to teach squash lesson to Farhan and during the $10,000 event, he did it to stamp his authority.
Danish started the first game cautiously and tried to play cool and calmly and managed to force Farhan commit crucial mistakes. He kept the pressure on Farhan and won the first game 11-7. Farhan found his lost touch in the second game and played with very sensible game by taking 7-4 lead but Danish then bounced back and leveled the score 7-7 and then went on to take the second game 11-9.
After playing two tough games, Danish relaxed, which proved fatal for him. Farhan sensing his lenient approach piled up pressure on him and went on to win the third game 11-8. Danish started the fourth game playing highly aggressive squash and kept Farhan on the run right from the start which surprised Farhan, who was not expecting such a high pace from his opponent and took 6-2 lead. Farhan tried to respond and slowed down the pace of the game, but Danish was not in a mood to let him off the hook, so he finished him off by winning the fourth game 11-6, thus won the encounter in 70 minutes.
Talking to The Nation on Monday soon after the final, delighted Danish said: “As I promised to beat Farhan, as I was trained very hard under my father Atlas Khan in Pakistan while the training in the US also helped me a lot in reshaping my game and skills and winning the prestigious title. The turning point of the event was my match against top seed Egyptian Andrew Wagih and after beating, I was pretty confident about lifting title. Although Farhan was not an easy nut to crack and was in good form after winning the $10,000 event recently yet I was almost sure, I would manage to beat Farhan despite his fine form.”
“I am quite happy and now looking forward to play in the President Gold Cup $25,000 International Squash Championship back home in Islamabad starting from next month. I would love to carry on the momentum and win the title for the country, a feat, which nobody had achieved since long. If Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) invests on players equally and provides equal opportunities to all the players, it is my firm belief the day is not far, when all of us will be among PSA top rankings and win countless titles for the country,” he asserted.
Sharing his views, Farhan Zaman congratulated Danish for his well-deserved victory and said: “I don’t want to take anything away from Danish, he was worthy winner, but I should have played much better, which I failed to do.”
“I would like to say a big thanks to my parents, especially my father and Shahid Zaman, whom I trained in Boston. All the fans, who cheered for me, which gave me feeling like playing at home, my cousin in Philadelphia, whom I would start training and the PSF for lending helping hand to me. I will bounce back and get over this very soon and will give my 100 percent, as I have one goal to break into PSA top 10 as early as possible,” Farhan concluded.