{"id":125412,"date":"2026-09-26T21:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pni.net.pk\/en\/?p=125412"},"modified":"2026-09-26T21:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:42:23","slug":"ashab-irfan-noor-zaman-to-battle-for-bronze-at-asian-games-squash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pni.net.pk\/en\/latest-sports-news\/ashab-irfan-noor-zaman-to-battle-for-bronze-at-asian-games-squash\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashab Irfan, Noor Zaman to battle for bronze at Asian Games squash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">ISLAMABAD: Pakistan\u2019s Muhammad Ashab Irfan and Noor Zaman will face each other in the men\u2019s singles bronze-medal play-off after both players were defeated in their respective semifinals at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">The all-Pakistan third-place play-off will ensure Pakistan secures a medal in the individual squash event at the Asian Games, marking the country\u2019s return to the individual squash medal table after 17 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">In the first semifinal, India\u2019s Abhay Singh defeated Muhammad Ashab Irfan 3-0 in a 35-minute contest. Ashab fought hard throughout the match but Abhay controlled the proceedings to win 11-3, 12-10 and 11-6.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">In the second semifinal, Malaysia\u2019s Eain Yow Ng defeated Pakistan\u2019s Noor Zaman 3-0 in 26 minutes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">Eain Yow took the opening game 11-7 and then strengthened his grip on the match, winning the second 11-2 before closing out the contest 11-4 in the third.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">Despite the semifinal defeats, Pakistan\u2019s two young players have produced an impressive performance in the individual event, reaching the last four and ensuring that the country will take home a medal from the men\u2019s singles competition.<\/p>\n<p>The bronze-medal play-off will be an all-Pakistan affair, with Noor Zaman facing Muhammad Ashab Irfan at 12:45 pm JST (8:45 am Pakistan time) on Sunday at Court 1 of the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD: Pakistan\u2019s Muhammad Ashab Irfan and Noor Zaman will face each other in the men\u2019s singles bronze-medal play-off after both players were defeated in their respective semifinals at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Saturday. The all-Pakistan third-place play-off will ensure Pakistan secures a [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":125426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-sports-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ashab Irfan, Noor Zaman to battle for bronze at Asian Games squash - Pakistan News International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pni.net.pk\/en\/latest-sports-news\/ashab-irfan-noor-zaman-to-battle-for-bronze-at-asian-games-squash\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Ashab Irfan, Noor Zaman to battle for bronze at Asian Games squash - Pakistan News International\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD: Pakistan\u2019s Muhammad Ashab Irfan and Noor Zaman will face each other in the men\u2019s singles bronze-medal play-off after both players were defeated in their respective semifinals at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Saturday. The all-Pakistan third-place play-off will ensure Pakistan secures a [...]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pni.net.pk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PNI-Temp-Blue-Eng-PNG-copy-204.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Haseeb Qureshi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pni.net.pk\\\/en\\\/latest-sports-news\\\/ashab-irfan-noor-zaman-to-battle-for-bronze-at-asian-games-squash\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pni.net.pk\\\/en\\\/latest-sports-news\\\/ashab-irfan-noor-zaman-to-battle-for-bronze-at-asian-games-squash\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Haseeb Qureshi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pni.net.pk\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/186e32e315ff5234721b994968765a2a\"},\"headline\":\"Ashab Irfan, Noor Zaman to battle for bronze at Asian Games squash\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-26T16:42:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pni.net.pk\\\/en\\\/latest-sports-news\\\/ashab-irfan-noor-zaman-to-battle-for-bronze-at-asian-games-squash\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":229,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pni.net.pk\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pni.net.pk\\\/en\\\/latest-sports-news\\\/ashab-irfan-noor-zaman-to-battle-for-bronze-at-asian-games-squash\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pni.net.pk\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/PNI-Temp-Blue-Eng-PNG-copy-204.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pni.net.pk\\\/en\\\/latest-sports-news\\\/ashab-irfan-noor-zaman-to-battle-for-bronze-at-asian-games-squash\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pni.net.pk\\\/en\\\/latest-sports-news\\\/ashab-irfan-noor-zaman-to-battle-for-bronze-at-asian-games-squash\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ashab Irfan, Noor Zaman to battle for bronze at Asian Games squash - 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