KARACHI, Nov 6: Top seed and last year’s runner up, Farhan Mehboob, on Thursday bagged the CNS International Squash title by getting the better of second seed and compatriot Amir Atlas Khan in a five-game epic final at the PN Roshan Khan-Jahangir Khan Squash Complex.

The left-handed Farhan recovered from a sluggish start to register a superb 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7 win in 71 minutes.

Farhan, 20, received the glittering winner’s trophy from the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Noman Bashir in addition to a purse of $3,971 while Amir, 18, was awarded the runner-up trophy and took home $2,717.

Contrary to the pre-finals, the title clash between the two most promising players in the country turned out to be exciting and they were applauded by a packed house.

Farhan, who could not go beyond second round in the recently concluded World Open at Manchester, led 6-3 in the opener but his unforced errors including two strokes to his opponents saw the lead slipped from his hands. At 7-7, Farhan hit the tin twice as Amir surged 9-7 before winning 11-7 in 12 minutes.

Farhan bounced back and caught Amir on the wrong foot enjoying slender advantage until 8-8 to eventually win 11-8 in 18 minutes to level the score.

Farhan raced to take 3-0 lead by hitting winners in the third game but Amir, also a second round loser to Egypt’s Karim Darwish at Manchester, not only fought back but took 6-3 lead before winning 11-7 in 11 minutes to go 2-1 up in the match.

Winner of President’s Cup at Abottabad this year, Farhan, overcame little resistance to claim the following two games 11-6 (14 minutes) and 11-7 (16 minutes) to emerged triumphant.

Meanwhile, Farhan became the second Pakistani after Amjad Khan to win the CNS international squash title. The latter had won the inaugural edition in the year 2000 beating fellow countryman Mansoor Zaman.

The names of finalists of the year 2000 were missing from the roll of honour released to sports journalists in press kit on the occasion of press conference held on Oct 28.