KARACHI: In an upsets galore top three seeds, a man and two women were eliminated as the $15,000 12th DG Rangers Sindh National Squash Championship reached its penultimate round at the Sindh Rangers Jahangir Khan Squash Complex on Thursday.

Fifth seed Ammad Fareed halted the winning run of second seed Asim Khan registering an 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 victory in the quarter-final spanning 35-minutes.

Similarly, top two seeds Riffat Khan and Anam Aziz crashed out of the semi-final race. Eighth seed Komal sent top seed Riffat packing 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10 in 31-minutes while unseeded Moqaddas Ashraf removed second seed Anam straight 11-6, 11-9, 11-4 in just 11 minutes.

Komal is drawn to face unseeded Rushana Mehboob who was stretched to limits by seventh seed Noor-ul-Huda before bowing out. Rushana won the battle 10-12, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5 in 24 minutes.

Moqaddas is slated to take on fifth seed Saima Shoukat who carved out 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 victory over Fehmina Asim in another quarter-final.

It is pertinent to mention that Fehmina had created a major upset by getting the better of third seed Noureena Shams straight in the second round the other day.

Meanwhile, Asim, who survived scare at the hands of Saddam-ul-Haq in first round marathon duel, should be cursing himself for defeat as he was 9-6 and 6-2 up in the second and third games from where he lost.

Top seed and holder Tayyab Aslam was extended to four-games by sixth seed Syed Ali Bukhari on way to winning 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 11-5 in 43-minutes to set a last four clash with third seed Ahsan Ayaz. The latter defeated eighth seed Abdul Malik 11-5, 11-4, 11-7 in other encounter.

Seventh seed Zahir Shah was home over fourth seed Israr Ahmed who retired hurt in the first game. The match was stopped after Israr was unable to continue and abruptly had swelling on his right toe at seven-all score.

The referee awarded three-minutes injury time to Israr and later awarded the match to his opponent.

Results:

Quarter-finals:

Men’s: Tayyab Aslam (SNGPL) bt Syed Ali Bukhari (Railways) 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 11-5; Ahsan Ayaz (PIA) bt Abdul Malik (Baluchistan) 11-5, 11-4, 11-7; Zahir Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Israr Ahmed (SNGPL) 7-7 (retired); Ammad Fareed (SNGPL) bt Asim Khan (SNGP) 11-8, 11-9, 11-7.

Women’s: Komal Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Riffat Khan (WAPDA) 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10; Rushana Mehboob (ZTBL) bt Noor-ul-Huda (SNGPL) 10-12, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5;Saima Shoukat (WAPDA)) bt Fehmina Asim (Sindh) 11-6, 11-9, 11-7; Moqaddas Ashraf (WAPDA) bt Anam Aziz (Sindh) 11-6, 11-9, 11-4.

Friday’s fixtures:

Matches start at 3pm.

Men’s semi-finals: TayyabAslam (SNGPL) vs Ahsan Ayaz (PIA); Zahir Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Ammad Fareed (SNGPL).

Women’s semi-finals: Komal Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Rushana Mehboob (ZTBL); S aima Shoukat (WAPDA) vs Moqaddas Ashraf (WAPDA).

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2018