LAHORE: Except seventh seed Shahjahan Khan, all seeded players marched into the quarter-finals of the International Squash Tournament, which failed to attract any foreign player, as main round started at the Punjab Squash Complex here on Friday.

A qualifier Israr Ahmad staged the upset when he ousted Shahjahan in straight way, in a match, lasted just 29 minutes.

Though Shahjahan resisted Israr, he failed to display his true form and finally tasted defeat with the score being 11-9, 11-6, and 11-9.

Top seed Nasir Iqbal, maintained his supremacy as a wild-card entrant Shiraz Saleem could stay before the star for just 20 minutes before being defeated with the score of 0-11, 9-11, 6-11.

Second seed Aamir Atlas Khan, however, struggled hard to eliminate the challenge from qualifier Waqar Mehboob.  

Aamir, an international, faced tough opposition from Waqar as their match stretched to five sets and took 52 minutes. Finally, Aamir toppled Waqar with the score of 10-12, 13-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6.

Third seed Farhan Zaman proved too good for Zahir Shah in wrapping up the match in just 19 minutes, dislodging his rival with the score of 11-3, 11-7, 11-3.

Fourth seed Danish Atlas Khan also booked his place in the quarter-final when he struggled hard to beat a spirited rival Asim Khan, in one of the best matches of the day with the score of 6-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-6.

Asim made a flying start, challenging his rival, winning first two sets with quite ease. But from thereon, Danish roared back to pull the win from the jaws of defeat after 64 minutes long struggle.

Fifth seed Tayyab Aslam got walk over as Aamir Malik from the UAE, did not appear on the court.

Similarly, eighth seed Saqib Yousuf carved out 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5 victory against a qualifier Waqas Mehboob.

Results:

Nasir Iqbal bt Shiraz Saleem 11-0, 11-9 , 11-6; Tayyab Aslam got w/o against Aamir Malik (UAE); Saqib Yousaf  bt  Waqas Mehboob 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5; Danish Atlas Khan bt Asim Khan 6-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-6; Farhan Mehboob  bt  Khawaja Adil Maqbool 11-8, 11-7, 11-8; Israr Ahmed  bt Shahjahan Khan 11-9, 11-6, 11-9; Aamir Atlas Khan bt Waqar Mehboob  10-12, 13-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6; Farhan Zaman bt Zahir Shah 11-3, 11-7, 11-3.

Quarter-finals line-up:

Nasir Iqbal vs Tayyab Aslam; Mohammad Yousaf vs Farhan Zaman; Danish Atlas Khan vs Farhan Mehboob; Israr Ahmed  vs Aamir Atlas Khan.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2015

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