December 15, 2003	Monday	Shawwal 20, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, Dec 14: Defending champion David Palmer (Australia), top seed Peter Nicol (England) and Pakistan’s Mansoor Zaman, all emerged victorious, to advance to the second round of the Bank Al Falah 25th World Open squash championship on Sunday.

World No 3 Palmer, ousted lower ranked M Essam Hafiz of Egypt, World No 62, without any real resistance. Palmer won 15-12, 15-5, 15-12.

In the first game Palmer surged ahead 10-6 but Essam tried to make a comeback 10-12 after which Palmer won easily.

Palmer, was in terrific form and also won the second game quite easily as he lost only five points.

But Essam put up a gallant fight in the third before losing 15-12 and the match. Nicol, however, failed to win the opener in style as he defeated Hisham M Ashour of Egypt after a battle of 61 minutes.

Nicol struggled hard before winning 15-14, 16-17, 15-7, 15-6. Mansoor, the World No 15, outclassed Lars Harms of Switzerland (49) in a one-sided match 15-11, 15-6, 15-6 lasting only 21 minutes.

Mansoor played better but at times he was erratic. He hit no less than 13 nick shots which helped him wrap up the match quickly.

In another tough match, experienced World No 17 Simon Parke, (England) defeated compatriot Ben Garner (52) 15-13, 17-16, 15-14.

Pakistan’s Safeerullah made an early exit from the competition when he was easily beaten by a far superior Karim Darwish of Egypt, ranked World No 8. But Safeerullah accepted defeat with dignity as the score in Darwish’s favour was 15-13, 15-11, 15-9.

World No 6, Anthony Ricket (Australia) also had easy wins against, Cameron Pilley (48) 15-8, 15-5, 15-11. Ricket took only 35 minutes to win.

Amr Shabana (Egypt), the World No 11, however, could not register a comfortable win over Bradley Bell (England), who was ranked 47.

Shabana a seasoned player, though won in straight games but after a close fight 15-14, 15-11, 17-16.

Results:

Anthony Ricket (Australia) bt Cameron Pilley (Australia) 15-8, 15-5, 15-11; Mohammad Abbas (Egypt) bt Viktor Berg (Canada) 15-7, 15-11, 9-15, 15-13; Simon Parke (England) bt Ben Garner (Eng) 15-13, 17-16, 15-14; Wael El Hindi (Egypt) bt Alister Walker (England) 15-9, 15-12,15-12; David Palmer (Australia) bt M Essam Hafiz (Egypt) 15-12, 15-5,15-12; Peter Genver (England) bt Adrian Grant (England) 17-16, 15-13, 4-15, 15-5; James Wilstrope (England) bt Lee Drew (England) 15-8, 15-8, 15-8; Amr Shabana (Egypt) bt Bradley Bell (England) 15-14, 15-11, 17-16; Karim Darwish (Egypt) bt Safeerullah (Pak) 15-13, 15-11, 15-9; Olli Tuominen (Finland) Cameron White (Australia) 15-3, 15-6, 15-8; M Azlan Iskandar (Malaysia) bt Glen Kennan (Australia) 15-3,  15-6, 15-8; Gregory Gualtier (France) bt Joseph Kemp (England) 15-11, 15-8, 15-4; Mansoor Zaman (Pakistan) bt Lars Harms (Switzerland) 15-11, 15-6, 15-6; Peter Nicol (England) bt Hisham M Ashour (Egypt) 15-14, 16-17, 15-17, 15-6; Rodney Darbath (Russia) bt Raj Nanda (Australia) 15-13, 15-2, 15-7; David Bianchati (Italy) Gavin Jones (Wales) 15-8, 15-11, 15-13.