June 09, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 04, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 8: Top seed Aamir Atlas Khan will meet Farhan Mehboob in the final of the 19th Chief of Air Staff (CAS) International Squash Champion-ship as they defeated their respective rivals in the semi-finals at the Mushaf Squash Complex here on Sunday.

Aamir Atlas, world No 32, started the first semi-final against world No 50 Australia’s Aaron Frankcomb assertively as the score reached 6-0.

Frankcomb made some recovery and took the score to 9-6, but Aamir won the first game 11-7.

It was the second game in which Frankcomb gave tough time to Aamir as the game tied at 10-10.

Aamir, however, clinched the second game 12-10 despite some good drop shots played by the Australian.

The last year’s champion came up with forceful strokes and classic drop shots in the third game to expel Frankcomb 11-7 from the competition in 49 minutes.

Aamir told Dawn he played more drop shots in the semi-final as he was aware of the Australian’s weakness.

About the final, Aamir said he had defeated Mansoor Zaman and Farhan Mehboob and therefore had an edge over them.

In the second semi-final, world No 43 Farhan Mehboob walloped Mansoor Zaman, world No 33, 3-2 in the 60-minute fixture.

Farhan got an early 4-0 lead in the first game and won it 11-9.

Mansoor got an early 6-4 lead in the second game. Farhan made mistakes in picking some easy shots and lost the game 5-11.

In the third game, Farhan started aggressively hitting some powerful strokes and maintained the same pace till the end to win it 11-8.

The fourth game at one point tied at 8-8 but Mansoor won it 8-11.

The fifth game witnessed the closest competition as Farhan got an early 4-0 lead but Mansoor bounced back to end the deficit and the score moved from 8-5, 8-6, 8-7, to tie at 8-8 and 9-9.

Farhan Mehboob however won the fifth game 11-9 to qualify for the final which will be played on Monday.

Results (semi-finals):

Aamir Atlas Khan (Pakistan) bt Aaron Frankcomb (Australia) 11-7, 12-10, 11-7; Farhan Mehboob (Pakistan) bt Mansoor Zaman (Pakistan) 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9.