KARACHI: Top eight men and top four women qualified for the main round of the 12th DG Rangers Sindh National Squash Championship at the Sindh Rangers Jahangir Khan Squash Complex here on Monday.

The main round of the event which carries a handsome prize money of US$15,000 begins at the same venue on Tuesday at 11:00am.

According to prize money break-up, US$12,000 has been set aside for the men’s event while US$3,000 will be disbursed among women.

The top eight men who cruised into the main draw of 32 are Mehran Javed, Waqas Mehboob, Abbas Shaukat, M. Naeem, Junaid-ur-Rehman, Owais Rasheed, Sadam-ul-Haq and Raees Khan. They have joined the 24 PSA/national ranking players in the main draw.

The women who sneaked into the main round include Mahin Masood, Sonia Salman, Hareem Ilyas and Hira Akeel.

According to organisers, 28 PSA/national ranking women players were exempted from the qualifiers.

Defending champion Tayyab Aslam has been top seeded in the men’s event while Riffat Khan heads the seedings in the women’s event in the absence of holder Faiza Zafar who is currently abroad for her studies.

Results:

Men’s qualifying round:

Mehran Javed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Sikander Khan (Sindh) 11-7, 11-5, 11-5; Junaid-ur-Rehman (Sindh) bt Yasir Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 14-12, 11-6, 12-10; Owais Rasheed (Sindh) bt Ahmed Amin (Punjab) 5-11. 11-4, 15-13, 13-11;M. Naeem (Navy) bt Anees-ur-Rehman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 11-5, 11-4, 11-8; Abbas Shaukat (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt faraz Mohammad (Navy) 9-7 retired; Saddam- ul-Haq (Army) bt Shafi Yar Khan 11-6, 11-3, 11-3; Raees Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Salman Zaib (Army) 11-6, 12-10, 11-5; Waqas Mehboob (PAF) bt Moin Rauf (Punjab) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5.

Women’s qualifying round:

Sonia Salman (Sindh) bt Ushna Masood (Sindh) 11-9, 11-3, 6-11, 11-8; Hareem Ilyas (Sindh) bt Rubaisha Iftikhar (Sindh) 11-7, 11-6, 11-5; Hira Aqeel (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Ayman Khan (Sindh) 11-2, 11-5, 11-3; Mahin Masood (Sindh) bt Maryam Irfan (Sindh) walkover.

Tuesday’s fixtures:

Matches starts at 11am.

Men’s first round:

Tayyab Aslam (SNGPL) vs Mehran Javed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sikander Khan (Sindh) vs Bilal Zakir (Army), Noman Khan (Sindh) vs Haris Iqbal (Railways), Abbas Shaukat (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Syed Ali Bukhari (Railways), Abdul Malik (Baluchistan) vs M. Naeem (Navy), Saad Abdullah (Sindh) vs Naveed Rehman (Sindh), Waqar Mehboob (ZTBL) vs Rafi Khan (Sindh), Owais Rasheed (Sindh) vs Ahsan Ayaz (PIA). Israr Ahmed (SNGPL) vs Raees Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Aamir Atlas Khan (WAPDA) vs M. Farhan (SNGPL), Chaudhry Nasir Anwar (Railways) vs Salman Saleem (Railways), Junaid-ur-Rehman (Sindh) vs Zahir Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ammad Fareed (SNGPL) vs Waqas Mehboob (PAF), M. Abdul Qadir (SNGPL) vs M. Uzair Rasheed (Punjab), Uzair Shaukat (KhyberPakhtunkhwa) vs Zeeshan Zeb (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Saddam-ul-Haq (Army) vs Asim Khan (SNGPL).

Women’s first round:

Riffat Khan (WAPDA) vs Hareem Ilyas (Sindh), Neham Kamal Khan (Sindh) vs Nimra Aqeel (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ilas Imran (Sindh) vs Tehrima Islman (Sindh), Hira Aqeel (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Komal Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Noor-ul-Huda (SNGPL) vs Sonia Salman (Sindh), Noor-ul-Ain Ejaz (SNGPL) vs Aina Aziz (Sindh), Rushana Mehboob (ZTBL) vS Maira Saleem (Sindh), Alisha Ibad (Sindh) vs Zoya Khalid (Sindh), Noureena Shams (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Soaliya Rasheed (Sindh), Fehmina Asim (Sindh) vs Rubashia Iftikar (Sindh), Zainab Khan (Sindh) vs Kainat Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Alina Zohra (Sindh) vs Saima Shoukat (WAPDA), Moqaddas Ashraf (WAPDA) vs Maheen Masood (Sindh), Aiman Shahbaz (SNGPL) vs Aina Sheikh (Sindh), Meyral Shaikh (Sindh) vs Nabiha Imran (Sindh), Sibgha Arshad (Punjab) vs Anam Aziz (Sindh)

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2018