KARACHI: With one exception, other seeded players kept their winning runs intact and were through to the semi-finals in the All-Pakistan Junior Squash Championship at Roshan Khan-Jahangir Khan Squash Complex on Wednesday

In the only upset, unseeded Zuraiz Naeem of Punjab sent second seed Abdul Basit of Sindh packing straight 11-8, 12-10, 11-9 in 17 minutes to advance into the boys U-13 semis.

Top seed Abdullah Nawaz of PAF handed a straight 11-8, 11-0, 11-9 defeat to Punjab’s Saim Asif as Punjab’s A.

Nadeem and Sindh’s M. Zaman completed the quartet. While the former romped home 13-11, 11-5, 11-5 over YashwaYousaf, the latter was stretched to limits by Obaidullah before winning 7-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7.

Top seed Zeeshan Zeb, second seed Uzair Shoukat together with Hassan Raza and Moaz Khan stayed in contention while emerging victorious over their respective rivals in boys U-19.

Zeeshan overcome Rafi Khan 11-8, 11-8, 14-12 while Shoukat whipped M. Usman 11-4, 11-4, 11-8. Similarly Hassan Raza gets the better of Ahmed Hassan 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 while Moaz struggled hard to whip Khushal Riaz in thrilling battle 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10 that lasted 43-minutes.

The quartet comprising top seed Zainab Khan, second seed Komal Khan Ilsa Imran and Aiman Shahbaz inched closer for the honours. in girls U-19. Top seed Zainab routed Sibgha Arshad 11-4, 11-7, 11-4 while second seed Komal was extended to four games before registering 11-5, 3-11, 11-6, 11-6 victory over Marium Malik.

In other matches, Ilsa overcome stiff resistance from Fehmina Asim before returning home 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 5-11, 11-8 while Aiman coasted to 11-9, 11-1, 11-1 victory over Amna Malik.

Results:

Quarter-finals:

Boys U-13: Abdullah Nawaz (PAF) bt Saim Asif (Punjab) 11-8, 11-0, 11-9; A..Nadeem (Punjab) bt Yashwa Yousaf (Punjab) 13-11, 11-5,.11-5; M . Zaman (Sindh) bt Obaidullah Afzal (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 7-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7; Zuraiz Naeem (Punjab) bt Abdul Basit (Sindh) 11-8,.12-10,.11-9.

Boys U-19: Zeeshan Zeb (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Rafi Khan (Sindh) 11-8, 11-8, 14-12; Hassan Raza (Punjab) bt Ahmad Hassan (Punjab) 11-5, 11-7, 11-6; Moaz Khan (Punjab) bt Khushal Riaz (PAF) 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10; Uzair Shoukat (PAF) bt M Usman (Punjab) 11-4, 11-4, 11-8.

Girls U-19: Zainab Khan (Sindh) bt Sibgha Arshad (Punjab) 11-4, 11-7, 11-4; Ilsa Imran (Sindh) bt Fehmina Asim (Sindh) 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 5-11, 11-8; Aiman Shahbaz (Punjab) bt Amna Malik (Sindh) 11-9,, 11-1, 11-1; Komal Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Marium Malik (Sindh) 11-5, 3-11, 11-6, 11-6.

Thursday’s fixtures: Semi-finals start at 1pm.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2019