Pakistani duo Zaman and Iqbal secure spot in Asian Doubles Squash final
Pakistan's Noor Zaman and Nasir Iqbal are poised to compete in the final of the Asian Doubles Squash Championship 2025, after securing a hard-fought victory over Malaysia in the semi-finals.
The duo will face the top-seeded Indian pair, Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar, in Thursday's high-stakes final.
Zaman and Iqbal battled their way to the final with a tense 2-1 win over Malaysia's Syafiq Kamal and Duncan Lee.
The match, which lasted one hour and eight minutes, saw the Pakistani pair win with scores of 10-11, 11-9, and 11-9.
Their victory came after a thrilling contest that captivated the crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
Big Win: Pakistan Team won Semifinal Match and entered into Finals of 2nd Asian Doubles Squash Championships 2025 pic.twitter.com/SK3eT8APg2 — Pakistan Squash Federation (@paksquash) June 25, 2025
Earlier in the day, Singh and Senthilkumar secured their place in the final after defeating Pakistan's Muhammad Asim Khan and Farhan Mehboob in straight sets, further intensifying the rivalry between the two nations.
With the two top seeds set to clash, the stage is set for an exciting showdown in the final.
Zaman and Iqbal, seeded second in the competition, have been in impressive form throughout the tournament.
Their journey to the final included a thrilling quarterfinal victory over Korea's Jiang Min Ryu and Jaijin Yoo, as well as dominating performances in the group stage, where they secured wins over the Philippines and South Korea.
Zaman, the reigning World U-23 champion, had also competed in the Asian Individual Squash Championship earlier this month but was eliminated in the pre-quarterfinals by Malaysia's Joachim Chuah in a five-game battle.
Now, with the doubles final on the horizon, Zaman and Iqbal will look to bring their best as they prepare for the challenge posed by India's top seeds.
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Express Tribune
10 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Pakistani duo Zaman and Iqbal secure spot in Asian Doubles Squash final
Pakistan's Noor Zaman and Nasir Iqbal are poised to compete in the final of the Asian Doubles Squash Championship 2025, after securing a hard-fought victory over Malaysia in the semi-finals. The duo will face the top-seeded Indian pair, Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar, in Thursday's high-stakes final. Zaman and Iqbal battled their way to the final with a tense 2-1 win over Malaysia's Syafiq Kamal and Duncan Lee. The match, which lasted one hour and eight minutes, saw the Pakistani pair win with scores of 10-11, 11-9, and 11-9. Their victory came after a thrilling contest that captivated the crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. Big Win: Pakistan Team won Semifinal Match and entered into Finals of 2nd Asian Doubles Squash Championships 2025 — Pakistan Squash Federation (@paksquash) June 25, 2025 Earlier in the day, Singh and Senthilkumar secured their place in the final after defeating Pakistan's Muhammad Asim Khan and Farhan Mehboob in straight sets, further intensifying the rivalry between the two nations. With the two top seeds set to clash, the stage is set for an exciting showdown in the final. Zaman and Iqbal, seeded second in the competition, have been in impressive form throughout the tournament. Their journey to the final included a thrilling quarterfinal victory over Korea's Jiang Min Ryu and Jaijin Yoo, as well as dominating performances in the group stage, where they secured wins over the Philippines and South Korea. Zaman, the reigning World U-23 champion, had also competed in the Asian Individual Squash Championship earlier this month but was eliminated in the pre-quarterfinals by Malaysia's Joachim Chuah in a five-game battle. Now, with the doubles final on the horizon, Zaman and Iqbal will look to bring their best as they prepare for the challenge posed by India's top seeds.
Express Tribune
15 hours ago
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RD Rizwan Ahmed: Using privilege to help Pak athletes
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It has been almost two years leading Pakistani stars like the Paris Olympic gold medallist and record-maker Arshad Nadeem, Paralympics multi-medallist including, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic discus thrower Haider Ali, and the Commonwealth Games record-setting weightlifter Nooh Dastgir Butt among others are all endorsing the multi-vitamin and multi-mineral supplement Activit brand. The Activit roster of several athletes and legends includes cricketers like Salman Agha and Shan Masood along with Shoaib Akhtar as well. At first, it looked like any other company sponsoring the leading talent, but there is more than meets the eye. Rizwan is filling a gap for athletes as the Director at National Hospital DHA, Lahore, where he provides them with free medical treatment for life. The same free-of-charge life-time treatment is extended to the family members of these athletes as well. One of the examples of how he has subtly helped shape the Pakistani sports landscape was by assuring Arshad received adequate treatment for his long-standing elbow and knee injuries throughout 2023 and before going to the Paris Olympics. Rizwan was instrumental in getting Dr Ali Bajwa from England on Arshad's case. It was a connection that Arshad and, consequentially, Pakistan hugely benefited from when the 28-year-old became the first Pakistani to win an Olympic gold medal in 40 years. Had Dr Bajwa not come into the picture, Arshad's recovery would have been even more painful, jeapardising his chances of winning the international accolades. Rizwan's empathy for the athletes comes from the fact that his grandfather Iftikhar Ahmed Shah was a trailblazing swimmer who represented Pakistan in the 1948 Olympics and his third great-grandfather Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan served as Pakistan's Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Health after 1947 and was the first president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation and later served as a diplomat. Given the state of neglect by the government and even the sports bodies when it comes to athlete welfare Rizwan and his brand have been helping them to go to international events, financing those trips but mainly completely setting the athletes free of the burden of medical expenses and giving them the access to the best facilities completely free of charge. But its vision remains that athletes can spread the awareness of a healthier lifestyle and Pakistanis too can have a shot at affordable supplements that are essential for good health, however, they do not get them due to poor quality of food products. "The driving force behind supporting the athletes and also making this product that can help everyone is patriotism and activism, there is the need to serve my country, it has been a tradition of my family and so I am walking in those footsteps," the Aitchisonian and Queen's University Canada graduate told this correspondent. He has certification as a registered dietitian and men's health specialist (Cornell University & Harvard Medical School) in his credentials, but mostly his pride comes from the rich heritage of his family that has been well-respected and even revered as Syed Ghulam Haider Shah, Rizwan's the 4th great-grandfather from his maternal side, was a spiritual figure of Jalalpur Shareef. Whereas from his paternal side he is related to Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The Cambridge-educated diplomat Sultan Muhammad Khan, Faiz's father, was Rizwan's great-grandfather. "It is about the optimal lifestyle that people can achieve. I have seen people in their 80s and 90s who feel great but those in their 30s don't, and there comes the difference in the diet and the nutrients they are getting from it," Rizwan highlighted, he explained that acquiring the minerals and vitamins that go into the supplements is the key and how these ingredients are collected make all the difference in the quality of the supplement, as the quality of food available to people have degraded over the years due to soil depletion and other factors. He added that so far, he has aimed to make Activit the world's number-one multivitamin supplement, a feat he wants to achieve for the country. 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I made Activit which was the vision of a world where everyone has access to high-quality, science-based nutrition. "For me, this is not making any money, legacy." He names popular nutraceutical competitors like Centrum that have superfluous ingredients that are not beneficial for the human body. Similarly, he shed light on the darker aspects of the trade like fake tablets prepared locally in Pakistan sold at hefty prices, scamming people. Rizwan added that his product is sold solely online and in the hospitals. The young CEO believes that while he is serving the athletes and the people of the country through various projects with Activt Welfare Foundation, his true motivation comes from the example of his father Prof. Dr. Aftab Ahmed, who is a pioneer of orthopedic surgery in Pakistan, founder of National Hospital DHA Lahore and the first Orthopedic Wing at Services Hospital. "I think I take great inspiration from my father who was left at the mercy of his relatives, his aunts and uncles when he was in eighth grade. He was alone but he understood that he understood that he had to study, he did his matriculation and then went to college and then to England and became one of the best surgeons in his field," said Rizwan paying tribute to his father who he pointed out also served Muammar Muhammad Gaddafi at the behest of England's queen. When one looks up Prof Dr Aftab's credentials, one finds that he served as the Chief Orthopedic Surgeon under the Ministry of Health in the 1970s. But Rizwan feels that he is doing everything he can to make sure that the government and the people can see his father's efforts and hopefully one day recognise them with a civil award. "Everyone in my family has achieved and has been recognised, like Faiz Ahmed Faiz and others, but I feel my father is overlooked at times, and I feel we can change that. 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