Amir shows potential in upsetting fancied Egyptian Omar
By Imran Naeem Ahmad
ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: Fifteen-year-old Amir Atlas, the boy tipped by experts to become a champion one day, underlined his potential on Tuesday with an opening day knockout of Egyptian Omar Abu Zid in the World Junior Squash Championship.
As the individual event of the -team championship kicked off, Amir stepped on to the court unnerved by his rival's status of being the British Open under-17 champion, as he carved out a 9-7, 5-9, 9-6, 9-2 victory at the new Mushaf Squash Complex.
Later in the evening, playing his second round match at the adjacent Roshan Khan Complex, Amir swept aside Hong Kong's top player Dick Lau 9-4, 9-2, 10-9. In what was a hard-fought morning tie, Amir matched his much taller opponent shot for shot and made his intentions clear by winning the first game. But Omar, who took an early lead in the second game, put the match on an even keel.
Amir, a nephew of the great Jansher Khan, fell behind 0-6 in the third game only to make a remarkable recovery that left Omar stunned. He pulled level at 6-6 and then slowly surged ahead. For him, there was no looking back as he went 2-1 up.
Any chance of Omar fighting back was effectively sealed by the talented Amir who was just too good in the last game which he was able to wrap up fairly quickly. "I was under no pressure because I was the underdog," said Amir. "It was a tough match but it is always good to have a hard opening game for that puts you in the right groove."
The tournament's top seed, Saurav Ghosal of India, who was given a first round bye, made short work of Australian Ben Reece 9-3, 9-2, 9-1 to cruise into the third round.
It was an easy day on court for Ghosal who needed less than 30 minutes to seal the fate of his opponent. But for Pakistan's rising star Farhan Mahboob, the task was even easier. Farhan, showcased his talents by ruthlessly thrashing Nicolas Muller 9-1, 9-1, 9-2 in only 15 minutes on the centre court of the Mushaf Complex.
The complex, built in a record time of one year, is named after the late president of Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir who died in a plane crash last year. Meanwhile some other matches were still being played till the filing of this report.
RESULTS (FIRST ROUND):
Saurav Ghosal (Ind) Bye, Ben Reece (Aus) bt Tom Pashley (Eng) 9/1, 9/7, 9/2, Cesar Salazar (Mex) bt Greg McArthur (Sco) 9/5, 9/0, 9/1, Mohd Adnan (Mas) bt Mohd Jafari (Irl) 9/0, 9/0, 9/0, Michael Auer (Can) Bye, Tamim El Waliby (Egy) bt Ho Fai Chui (Hkg) 9/6, 9/3, 9/3, Salem Al Mohd (Kuw) bt Amar Shah(Ken) 9/2, 9/1, 9/0, Basit Ashfaq(Pak) Bye, Andrew Budd (Aus) Bye, Benjamin Fischer (Sui) bt Mark Assaraf (Zim) 9/0, 9/2, 9/0, Reece Williams (Nzl) bt Brian Healy (Irl) 9/2, 9/1, 9/7, Jens Schoor (Hkg) bt Martijn Kock (Ned) 9/2, 9/7, 1/9, 9/3, Dick Lau (Hkg) bt Joseph Raho (US) 9/3, 9/2, 9/3, Amir Atlas (Pak) bt Omar Abu Zid (Egy) 7/9, 9/5, 9/6, 9/2, Rob Wilkins (Wal) bt Randy Wynn (Mas) 9/6, 9/3, 9/6, Tom Richards (Eng) Bye, Ramy Ashour (Egy) Bye, Casper Coetzee(Zim) bt Masud Ekhlas (Irl) 9/3, 9/5, 9/0, Aqib Hanif (Pak) W/O against Chris McEldowney (Nzl), Steven Robinson (Aus) bt Fearghal Field (Irl) 9/1, 9/1, 9/0, Arturo Salazar (Mex) bt Jamie Macaulay (Sco) W/O, Montafa Khalifa (Egy) Bye, Vivian Rhamanan (Sin) bt Ben Hardwidge (Wal) 9/0, 9/5, 9/6, James Wright (Eng) Bye, Christopher Gordon (Usa) Bye, Alan Clyne (Sco) bt Nathan Tumbull (Aus) 3/9, 9/7, 7/9, 9/1, 9/0, Maierhofer Matthias (Ger) bt Michael Bill (Nzl) 7/9,9/1,10/8,9/6, Sebastian Weenink (Ned) bt Sandep Jangra (Ind) 9/1,9/10,9/3,9/2, Mohd Azfar (Mas) bt Leo Au (Hkg) 8/10,9/3,4/9,9/2,9/1, Abdullah Kh Al Mezayin (Kuw) Bye, Nicolas Muller (Sui) Bye, Farhan Mehboob (Pak) Bye, Mohd Adel (Egy) Bye, Marc Witt (Ned) bt Suleyman Saleem (Aus) 9/1,9/1,9/1, Bilal Zaman (Pak) bt Elyinn Chung (Mas) 9/6, 9/2, 9/1, Ahmed El Swaify (Egy) bt Harider Sandhu (Ind) 9/4, 9/2, 9/2, Kristen Johnson (Sco) bt Daniel Sibley (Can) 9/0, 9/1, 7/9, 9/0, Edmundo Garcia (Mex) bt Sameul Otwill (Irl) 9/0, 9/2, 9/7, Mathew Karwaiski (Aus) bt Cyrill Ortuer (Sui) 9/3, 9/4, 9/2, Campbell Grayson (Nzl) Bye, Simon Roesner (Ger) Bye, A Parthiban (Ind) bt Ronak Shah (Ken) 9/1, 9/0, 9/0, Christopher Hall (Eng) bt Bassem Makram (Egy) 10/8, 9/5, 5/9, 9/5, Lewys Hurst (Wal) bt Keith Pritchard (Can) 9/6,10/9,9/3, Ali B Al Ramzi (Kuw) bt Babak Shahabi (Irl) 9/0,9/0,9/0.
