LAHORE, June 18: Furrukh Zaman, Khalid Atlas and Khawaja Adil survived a scare before winning their qualifying round matches to enter the main round of the PTCL International squash championship at the Punjab Squash Complex on Saturday.

Only Aamir Atlas, the fourth qualifier, entered the main round with straight games win.

Furrukh, Pakistan No 7, eliminated the challenge of former world top 10 Amjad Khan after a 44-minute contest.

Furrukh recovered from being 0-2 down to win the remaining three games in a row with the score being 6-11, 10-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-3.

Khalid also stretched to five games to overcome spirited Basit Ashfaque after the longest match of the day.

He staged a comeback after trailing 2-0. Khalid came out a winner with the score being 8-11, 11-13, 11-3, 11-7, 15-13 in 73 minutes.

Khawaja Aadil fought for 46 minutes to flog Navid Atlas in another five-game thriller, lasting 46 minutes.

Aadil won 4-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6. Aadil started off poorly losing the first two games tamely but roared back to reserve a place in the main round. Aamir thrashed Farzan Rasheed 11-7, 11-6, 11-9.

The main round comprising 16 players will start from Sunday. Besides the four qualifiers, the remaining 12 players, including six foreigners and as many from Pakistan, who have already qualified for the main round are Shahid Zaman (Pakistan), Mohammad Azlan Iskandar (Malaysia), Wael El Hindi (Egypt), Alex Gough (Wales), Mansoor Zaman (Pakistan), Mohammed Essam A Hafiz (Egypt), Liam Kenny (Ireland), Stephane Galifi (France), Shamsul Islam Khan (Pakistan), Yasir Butt (Pakistan), Arshad Iqbal Burki (Pakistan), Khiyal Mohammad (wild card entry/Pakistan).

Results:

Furrukh Zaman bt Amjad Khan 6-11,10-11,11-5, 11-6, 11-3; Khalid Atlas bt Basit Ashfaq 8-11, 11-13, 11-3, 11-7, 15-13; Khawaja Aadil bt Navid Atlas 4-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6; Aamir Atlas bt Farzan Rasheed 11-7, 11-6, 11-9.