17 October 2004	Sunday	02 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 16: Mohammad Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia upset top seed Pakistan's Mansoor Zaman in the first semifinal of the Chief of the Air Staff International squash championship at Army Squash Complex on Saturday.

Promising Azlan put up spirited resistance against Mansoor in the straight sets battle which lasted for 33 minutes only. Azlan did not allow Mansoor to use his stroke and keep his manoeuvring inside the court.

It looked very difficult for Mansoor to settle down against Azlan and he soon succumbed to his pressure. Mansoor, son of former world champion and stroke master Qamar Zaman failed to utilize his skills and repeatedly hit the board.

His father was also among the crowd watching his son time and again hitting the tin against young Azlan.

Azlan won the first set 11-9 in which Mansoor opened up the points tally but at 9-9, Azlan raced up to victory. The set lasted for 11 minutes only. In the second set, Mansoor did offer some resistance and tied the set at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9 and 10-10. In the tie-breaker Azlan won the set 11-10 (17-14).

It was an easy sailing for Azlan in the third set which he won 11-7. The set once tied at 5-5 but then Azlan never looked behind masterminding his straight sets victory.

Azlan later said that he was delighted to beat strong player Mansoor in straight sets. "I'm working very hard to keep my winning spree intact but I think today was Mansoor's off-day."

He is a very good player and specially his forceful strokes are no match but he did not settle down things during the whole proceedings and thus remained erratic in his approach which I utilized for myself," Azlan said.

"It's a game in which one has to win and the other loses. So, I lost the match," Mansoor said. "I took it very lightly right from the start and that was why I hit three to four error shorts in set. As a result Azlan took the advantage and won the game," Mansoor added.

In the second semifinal, second seed One Beng Hee of Malaysia defeated Yasir Butt of Pakistan 3-1 (11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6). The match lasted for 41 minutes.

One Beng Hee won the first set 11-8 but failed to keep rhythm in the second and lost it to Yasir 6-11, the only qualifier player who made it to semifinal.

Yasir gave tough resistance in the third set after victory in the second but One Beng Hee who also remained among the top 10 in the world ranking, raced up to victory 3-1.

The final will be played on Sunday at 4.00 p.m.-APP