August 02, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 29, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 1: Top seed Aamir Atlas Khan of Pakistan failed to end a 24-year Men’s World Junior Championship 2008 title drought in Zurich on Friday as he lost the final against Egypt’s Mohamed El Shorbagy.

Shorbagy lifted the World Junior title with a game score 2-9, 9-3, 10-8, 9-4.

Shorbagy, ranked No 60 in the world, lost the first game 9-2 to a confident-looking Aamir Atlas, ranked No 24 in the world.

But in the second game, Aamir lost his way as Shorbagy came back to win the game 9-3.The third game which was played aggressively by both the players and were tied at 7-7 and then again at 8-8.

However, Aamir failed to maintain the pressure on the Egyptian player who played some good drop shots to clinch the game 10-8.

Shorbagy then created an upset by winning the fourth game 9-4 to lift the title.

Earlier, Aamir defeated compatriot Waqar Mehboob in the semis with a game score of 9-1, 9-1, 9-6 in 40 minutes.

Shorbagy, on the other hand, brushed aside Nicholas Mueller of Switzerland 9-7, 9-10, 9-4, 1-9, 9-5 in 67 minutes to reach the final.

Squash legend Jansher Khan, commenting on Aamir’s defeat, told Dawn on Friday that he was shocked to learn about his nephew’s loss and that too at the hands of a lowly-rated player.

“It is shocking for me to learn that Aamir has lost to a player (Shorbagy) who is nowhere near his calibre,” said Jansher.

“I was 100 per cent sure that Aamir has the potential to lift the world junior title but this shows if we can’t win this one, we cannot win any other major international event.”