Challenger Tour Round-Up: Zakaria Wins Fourth Title; Joshi, Chand, Palomino & Dowling All Victorious Too

16th CNS International Squash 2024 

16-year-old sensation Mohamad Zakaria claimed his fourth title of the season, and the biggest of his PSA Tour career so far, winning the 16th CNS International Squash in Karachi. 

The young Egyptian won three tournaments in a row at the end of 2023 and then claimed glory at the British Junior Open in January, but fell short of adding a 20k crown to his name at the Cannon Kirk Gillen Markets Squash Open in April, when he finished as runner-up. 

He put that right in the Pakistani city though, beating wildcard Nasir Iqbal, a player ranked outside the world’s top 400 but with a career-high of No.35. 

Zakaria did not have things all his own way, losing game one 13-11 on a tiebreak after initially saving three game balls at 10-7, but he did take control early in game two, control he would never truly relinquish. 

From 6-2 up he soon closed out the game, taking it 11-4 in less than seven minutes, and took the third in equally comfortable fashion, this time 11-5 in just over seven minutes. 

With home support on his side, Iqbal did take a 3-2 lead in game four, but that would be as good as things got for the 30-year-old, as Zakaria reeled off four straight points to move 6-3 up, and soon had five match balls at 10-5. 

Iqbal saved the first two but Zakaria would not be denied, closing out victory to secure the biggest title of his career to date. 

The Poona Club LTD Open Squash Tournament 2024 

Top seed Urwashi Joshi won her maiden PSA Tour title at The Poona Club LTD Open Squash Tournament, denying 16-year-old Diya Yadav a fairytale finale to her first week on Tour. 

The USA’s Yadav came into this event without a ranking point to her name, having never before played on the PSA Tour, but put together a remarkable run to reach this final, knocking out the No.2 and No.4 seeds along the way. 

Beating the No.1 seed to get her hands on the trophy would prove to be one step too far, though, as she fell 3-1 in just shy of half an hour. 

Victory for Joshi secured her a maiden Challenger Tour title in what was her first final at this level. 

The men’s final, meanwhile, was a repeat of the Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam final between Ravindu Laksiri and Suraj Kumar Chand, with top seed Laksiri seeking revenge over the home favourite. 

He would come up short once more, though, as the No.2 seed wrapped up a 3-1 victory on home soil – more comfortable than his 3-2 win a few weeks ago – to claim his second successive crown. 

Bendigo Bank NT Open 2024 

Australia’s Rhys Dowling claimed victory in the city of his birth at the Bendigo Bank NT Open in Darwin, beating Japan’s Naoki Hayashi in the final. 

Top seed Dowling – who now lives in Queensland – went into the final having cruised through the first three rounds without dropping a game, never even losing more than six points in any of them, but he found himself in unchartered territory here, losing the first 11-8. 

He reversed the scoreline in game two to get himself on level terms, and went on to clinch victory from there, winning game three 11-6 before edging the fourth 11-9. 

The win secures Dowling a sixth Tour title, and a second in succession on the Challenger Tour, following his success at the Logan City Queensland Open at the back end of 2023. 

Kiva Club Open 2024 

Ronald Palomino secured his third title of the season, beating Luis Quisquinay to get his hands on the Kiva Club Open trophy. 

Palomino and Quisquinay had ousted the top two seeds between them in the semi-finals, and were playing each other for the first time on the PSA Tour. 

The Colombian undoubtedly went into the showdown as favourite, ranked almost 40 places than Quisquinay, and ensured there would be no upset with the trophy on the line, beating the Guatemalan player 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 to wrap up the sixth title of his career. 

You can see all the weekend’s results from the PSA Challenger Tour here.