11 July 2004	Sunday	22 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, July 10: Fourteen-year-old Maria Toor, after toppling second seed Saima Shaukat in the semifinals the day before, went on to down top seed Muqaddas Ashraf in three straight games in the final of the National Women squash championship held at the Karachi Club on Saturday.

The teenager opened her account with a beautiful cross smash but Muqaddas took over the lead 2-1, when she forced Maria to hit the tin on two successive occasions.

Regaining her service Maria overcame her setbacks by racing to a 8-2 lead.

But Muqaddas fighting back drew closer 4-8, only to lose the opening game 4-9, when Maria caught her on the wrong foot with a powerful backhand shot.

One game down, the top seed seemed to have recovered taking a 3-1 lead, but Maria unruffled with the proceedings moved ahead smoothly 5-3.

With service changing hands several times at this score, Maria finally drew away 7-3 and soon won the second game also at 9-4.

Brimming with confidence Maria was on the victory trail 7-2, as Muqaddas continued to commit unforced errors, but with victory around the corner Maria now playing very erratically, allowed Muqaddas to draw abreast 8-8, which had her band of supporters cheering on in approval.

Service regained Maria with two deft drop shots had her hapless opponent stranded on the court and finally won the game and match 10-8, which lasted 35 minutes.

Jahangir Khan the former 10-time British and six- time world squash champion, who was the chief guest on the occasion presented the trophies to the winner and runner-up.

Maria along with her trophy, received a cash prize of Rs.9500. Muqaddas had to be content with Rs.6500 along with her trophy.

Result: Maria Toor (NWFP) bt Muqaddas Ashraf (Punjab) 9-4, 9-4, 10-8.