27 January 2004	Tuesday	04 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Jan 26: National champion Mansoor Zaman produced the best result of his international career when he stunned world number one Thierry Lincou in the first round of the Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open Squash Championships on Sunday night.

According to the results of the US$65,000 tournament made available here, the left-handed Mansoor, who only moved into the 16-man main round draw because of a last-minute pull-out of Australia's Anthony Ricketts, shocked Lincou in four games.

Mansoor won the match 15/13, 10/15, 15/14, 15/13 in 69 minutes. He now meets fourth seeded Jonathon Power of Canada in the quarterfinals. Lincou's first match after learning that he would become world number one was his loss in the World Open final last month. Now his first since being the number one is a loss which could cost him the pinnacle.

Lincou damaged an ankle which caused him to pull out of the recently-concluded Dayton Open and severely restricted his training since the World Open. "I was breathing very hard as the match went on today," he said after losing to Mansoor.

This may have been partly why he was unable to capitalize on small leads in the later stages of both the third and fourth games, although Mansoor had quite another explanation.

Certainly Mansoor lasted a testing encounter well. He also produced some tight drops at big moments, something he claimed was the result of coaching from his father, Qamar Zaman, the brilliantly gifted former British Open champion.

Egypt's newly-crowned world champion Amr Shabana was also sensationally defeated in the first round. World No3 David Palmer of Australia, seventh seeded Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia, fifth seeded Linda Charman of England, sixth seeded Vanessa Atkinson of The Netherlands, seventh seeded Vicky Botwright of England and eighth seeded Stephanie Brind of England were also among the unexpected casualities.

Shabana was beaten 13-15 15-4 15-8 15-14 by England's Lee Beachill, surprise winner of the Qatar Classic in Doha last month. Beachill goes to a second round meeting with his Commonwealth Games doubles partner, the top seeded Peter Nicol.

Results (men's first round)

Peter Nicol (Eng) bt Hisham Ashour (Egy) 14/17, 15/10, 15/7, 15/6 (52m); Lee Beachill (Eng) bt Amr Shabana (Egy) 13/15, 15/4, 1|, 15/14 (61m); Joe Kneipp (Aus) bt David Palmer (Aus) 17/16, 15/11, 10/15, 15/11 (83m); Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt Martin Heath (Sco) 15/13, 15/13, 1| (53m); Mansoor Zaman (Pak) bt Thierry Lincou (Fra) 15/13, 10/15, 15/14, 15/13 (69m); Jonathon Power (Can) bt [Q] Azlan Iskandar (Mas) 1|, 15/2, 15/9 (35m); James Willstrop (Eng) bt Ong Beng Hee (Mas) 17/16, 15/10, 15/7 (70m); John White (Sco) bt Nick Taylor (Eng) 15/11, 15/11, 15/12 (39m)-PPI