Nasir crashes out in squash pre-quarters

From our correspondent

BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan’s medal chance in the men’s singles squash event of the Commonwealth Games on Sunday ended when their top player Nasir Iqbal lost to England’s James Willstrop in the pre-quarter-finals here at the University of Birmingham squash court.

In front of a packed house, Nasir, currently ranked 115th, was seen as too weak against the World No 25 James who kept him under pressure right from the start.

After winning the first set 11-6, James showed more aggression in the second set and bagged it 11-4 to move to the third where he also prevailed 11-7 to seal the victory.

Earlier, Nasir on Friday took a bright start to his journey when he downed Julian Morrison of Jamaica 3-0 in the round of 64. He on Saturday toppled his teammate Tayyab Aslam who left the court in the second game due to an injury.

Pakistan’s Faiza Zafar defeated Yiwen Chan of Malaysia 3-0 in women’s singles round of 32 on Saturday to make it to the pre-quarter-finals.

The set score was 11-3, 11-6, 11-5. She was scheduled to meet Jada Smith Padmore of Barbados in the pre-quarter-finals late Sunday night.

Also on Saturday night, Pakistan’s Amna Fayyaz lost to Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold 3-0 in the round of 32 and was eliminated from the women’s singles competitions. The set scores remained 11-3, 11-2, 11-5.

These four players are representing Pakistan in the squash event of the quadrennial event which has entered into its third day.