Local players make exit from women’s squash

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan players made unceremonious exit from the $12,000 Pakistan International Women’s Sq­uash Tournament as foreign players had a heyday on Monday here at the Mushaf Ali Mir Complex.

Pre-quarter-finals turned out to be a total foreign players’ affair as Faiza Zafar and Madina Zafar lost their one-sided matches. Amna Fayyaz, however, put up a resolute show before losing her match.

Amna stretched Nadia Pfister (Switzerland) to full five games before losing her pre-quarter match. Pfister got the better of Amna 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 11-5 following a 33-minute battle. Amna did try her best to stay in the match by winning third and fourth games but couldn’t match the stamina and agility of her opponent losing the fifth game to concede the match.

The best of the local lot, Faiza Zafar, lost to Egyptian without putting up any real fight. Meena Hamed (Egypt) beat Faiza Zafar 11-7, 11-9, 11-2 in just 17 minutes. Sabrina Sobhy (USA) also proved too strong for Madina Zafar wining 11-9, 11-4, 11-1 within 20 minutes. In men’s $20,000 international event, Farhan Mehboob set up an interesting battle against Farhan Zaman in the quarter-finals.

In an intriguing pre-quarter battle, Farhan Zaman upset Egyptian 4th seed Mazen Gamal 11-13, 11-9, 3-11, 11-2, 12-10 following almost one hour of interesting battle.

Farhan had to gather all his reserves to beat Mazen in the fifth game 2-2. Farhan held on to his nerves in the dying moments of fifth and final game to win the day.

“I knew well that Egyptian is a well-versed player and I have to play very well to beat him. I was ready for a lengthy match even though I conceded the third game rather easily in a hope to come back strongly in the next two. I am happy to have won the next two more due to my untiring efforts,” Farhan said.

He will take on Farhan Mehboob in the quarter-final that is expected to be a cracker of a match. 8th seed Farhan Mehboob (Pakistan) beat local Amaad Fareed 7-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7 after losing the first game.

“I have to play very well to beat Farhan as he gave good account of himself in the pre-quarter-final match against Egyptian. It will be a good match,” Farhan Mehboob said.

Asim Khan and Tayyab Aslam also made it to the quarter-finals with straight sets wins. Asim will be pitted against top seed Youssef Ibrahim in the first quarter-final today (Tuesday).

Besides locals, a large number of international men and women players from Austria, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, Jordon, Malaysia, Portugal, Switzerland and USA are participating in the two events.

Results: Men’s pre-quarter-finals: Youssef Ibrahim (Egypt) bt Chi Him Wong (Hong Kong) 9-11, 6-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4; Asim Khan (Pak) bt Curtis Malik (Eng) 11-5, 11-7, 11-9; Farhan Mehboob (Pak) bt Amaad Fareed (Pak) 7-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7, 11-5; Farhan Zaman (Pak) bt Mazen Gamal (Egy) 11-13, 11-9, 3-11, 11-2, 12-10; Tayyab Aslam (Pak) bt Noor Zaman (Pak) 11-8, 13-11, 11-5; Yahya Elnawasany (Egy) bt Tsz Kwan Lau (HK) 12-10,11-8, 8-11, 11-7; Rui Soares (Portugal) bt Yannik Omlor (Ger) 12-10, 11-8, 11-8; Mohamed ElSherbini (Egy) bt Tang Ming Hong (HK) 11-7, 11-6, 11-7.

Women’s pre-quarter-finals: Hana Moataz (Egy) bt Tsz-Wing Tong (HK) 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7; Farah Momen (Egy) bt Shahd El Refaey (Egy) 11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-4; Waen Li Lai (Mal) bt Moqaddas Ashraf (Pak) 11-3, 11-7, 11-7; Farida Mohamed (Egy) bt Saima Shaukat (Pak) 11-9, 11-2, 11-4; Meena Hamed (Egy) bt Faiza Zafar (Pak) 11-7, 11-9, 11-2; Cindy Merlo (Swit) bt Anam Mustafa Aziz (Pak) 11-1, 11-3, 11-2; Nadia Pfister (Swit) bt Amna Fayyaz (Pak) 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 11-5; Sabrina Sobhy (USA) bt Madina Zafar (Pak) 11-9, 11-4, 11-1.