May 1, 2003	Thursday	Safar 28, 1424

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LAHORE, April 30: World No. 19 Omar Elborolossy (Egypt) faced a tough fight from the qualifier Aijaz Azmat (Pakistan) before advancing into the quarterfinal with a 3-2 win on the opening day of the Pak Telecom International Squash main round at the Punjab Squash Complex here on Wednesday.

Omar who was erratic in the early stages of the match and went 1-0 down showed the glimpses of his potential later to earn win after a 77 minutes clash with the score being 11-15, 17-15, 6-15, 15-10, 15-6.

A neck and neck fight was seen in the first game before  Aijaz won it after being tied till 9-all. Aijaz played calculated strokes and six nick shots to his credit.

Aijaz lost golden opportunity of strengthening his lead when he lost the second game after the lead change hands several times. Aijaz  took an early lead of 6-2 but Elborolossy matched the score 6-all.

The fight for each point continued as the Egyptian again levelled the score 10-all.The visitor went ahead for the  first time in the game at 11-10 but Aijaz restored the parity with a nickt. Here Aijaz hit the board twice  to help Elborolossy increased lead to 14-12.

Aijaz repaired the damage and caught up Elborolossy 14-14 with a nick and drop shot to add further excitement in the game. But at this crucial stage, Aijaz could earn only one point and lost three, including hitting the board twice to allow Elborolossy to make it 1-1.

Aijaz won the third game easily 15-6 to take 2-1 lead. He led from start to finish.

Going  in with 2-1 lead, Aijaz was 1-0 ahead when the power supply system of the complex went out of order. After 15 minutes delay, the supply was restored. From there on, Aijaz  committed unforced errors that allowed Elborolossy to grab the fourth game 15-10 to leave the decision on the fifth game.

Aijaz looked dejected and tired in the final game. Elborolossy played his stroke intelligently and hardly gave any  chance to Aijaz to stage a comeback before winning the game 15-6  and  the match too.

Later, Arshad Iqbal Burki, a qualifier from Pakistan registered an upset when he toppled the seventh seed and World No 31, Shahid Zaman (Pakistan). The match lasted for 61 minutes and Arshad upset Shahid 17-15, 15-5, 11-15, 9-15, 17-14.

Arshad, the World No 72 got off to a flying start and took 2-0 lead. Shahid struggled and managed to catch Arshad by winning the  next two games. But the day was belong to Arshad as he  won the fifth game after being tied once at 14-14.

World No. 23 Mohammad Abbas (Egypt) survived anxious moments before beating the country-mate and a qualifier Hisham Mohd Ashour in five game battle 15-8, 11-15, 15-13, 13-15, 17-16. The match lasted for 65 minutes.

Top seed Karim Darwish (Egypt) faced no much difficulty in beating M. Azlan Askandar (Malaysia) in straight games. The  World No 9, Karim powered his way with 15-8, 15-10, 17-16 win in 37 minutes.

Mansoor Zaman, the World No 14 was another Pakistani who made the last eight, beating Wael El Hindi, the World No 38 in a 49 minutes long match with the score of 15-7, 10-15, 15-10, 15-13.

Dan Jenson of Australia was declared winner when Saeed Hasan (Pakistan) the wild card entry conceded the match in the third game. Jenson won the first game easily 15-3 but Saeed levelled the score with 15-13 win in the second. The Australian was leading  6-1 in the third game when Saeed decided to concede  the match due to fitness problem.

Adrian Grant of England,  the  World No. 27 toppled a Pakistani Farrukh Zaman, ranked 41 in the world, in the  longest match of the day. Grant recovered to beat Farrukh 6-15, 15-8, 14-15, 15-13, 15-13. The fight for supremacy lasted for 80 minutes.

The  last match between Amr Shabana (Egypt) and Safeerullah Khan (Pakistan) was to start when this report was filed.

Results: Karim Darwish (Egypt) bt M Azlan Askandar (Malaysia) 15-8, 15-10, 17-16; Mohammed Abbas (Egypt) bt Hesham M Ashour (Egypt) 15-8, 11-15, 15-13, 13-15, 17-16; Mansoor Zaman (Pak) bt Wael El Hindi (Egypt) 15-7, 10-15,  15-10, 15-13. Adrian Grant (England) bt Farrukh Zaman (Pakistan) 6-15, 15-8, 14-17, 15-13, 15-13. Omar Elborolossy (Egypt) bt Aijaz Azmat (Pakistan) 11-15, 17-15, 6-15, 15-10, 15-6. Dan Jenson (Australia) bt Saeed Hassan (retired hurt) 15-3, 13-15, 6-1; Arshad Iqbal Burki (Pakistan) bt Shahid Zaman 17-15, 15-5, 11-15, 9-15, 17-14.