March 11, 2006	Saturday	Safar 10, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, March 10: Pakistan squash suffered another humiliation when country’s flag-bearing cousins Shahid Zaman and Mansoor Zaman were outclassed by Egyptians Ramy Ashour and Mohammad Abbas in the semifinals of the COAS Championship.

The first to fall was Mansoor, shown the door by Abbas 11-9, 6- 11, 11-8, 11-6 and then Shahid, the top seed of this $25,000 championship was cut down to size by Ashour who won 10-12, 11-2, 11-8, 11-8 before empty stands.

Abbas was surprised to see no spectators around except for officials of a bank sponsoring the event.

“It is hard to imagine an empty house in Pakistan,” said the 20th ranked player after being on court for barely half an hour.

Abbas though seemed to soothe Pakistani wounds by pointing out that Mansoor, world ranked 26 had entered the match after playing two five-game encounters on successive days.

“I think that made all the difference because I had picked up two straight wins.”

Mansoor, whose father Qamar Zaman was a former world champion, fell behind in the first game only to bounce back at 7-7 and then again at 9-9.

However, Abbas executing his strokes with precision snatched two quick points to wind it up.

In the second game, the Pakistani made Abbas run all over with an intelligent display and was in good control throughout and emerged a comfortable winner.

The players were at par six times in a neck and neck battle for ascendancy before Abbas, who lost to Adrian Grant in the semifinal of the last edition of the championship, zoomed ahead to go 2-1 up.

Any hopes of the home player making a come back quickly disappeared when the Egyptian raced to a healthy lead and never looked back.

It was a well-deserved victory for Abbas who admitted that Mansoor had troubled him in the second game.

As Abbas sat savouring his victory, he hoped that he could win on Saturday.

“I have never won here and I wish I am able to lay my hands on the trophy tomorrow; I expect it to be an exciting game.”

Ashour, the No 30, ensured the trophy does not go to the hosts with a victory he felt would help him get into the top 20s.

“My actual goal is to be among the top 10 in about a year’s time.”

A realistic target indeed, indications of which were aplenty Friday as he came from a game down to upset Shahid, ranked No 17 in the world.

The Egyptian had looked well set to take the first game when he led 10-6 but in a fine effort, Shahid hit back to tie the scores at 10-10 and then rode his luck to win in a tie-breaker.

Ashour sought quick revenge and in a matter of minutes walloped his opponent in the second game dropping only two points.

Shahid’s resisted quite a bit in the third game and did so in the fourth but his hitting the tin at 8-10 meant it was all over.

Results:

Mohammad Abbas (Egy) bt Mansoor Zaman 11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6; Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt Shahid Zaman 10-12, 11-2, 11-8, 11-8

Final (Saturday): Ramy Ashour v Mohammad Abbas.