LAHORE: Sixteen matches were decided on the first day of the CM Punjab International Squash Championships which started here at the Punjab Squash Complex on Monday.

Top seed Tayyab Aslam recorded a comfortable 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 victory against Haseeb Taj in 17 minutes, second seed Asim Khan brushed aside Abdul Mughni 13-11, 11-3, 13-11 and third seed Israr Ahmed ousted Faizan Khan 11-3, 11-1, 11-0 to make the second round.

In the day’s toughest match, Farhan Hashmi overcame Faraz Mohammad 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 12-14, 12-14 , 11-5.

Unseeded Mehran Javed upset fourth seed Amad Fareed 11-8, 11-4, 11-2 while Abdul Qadir, another unseeded campaigner, stunned fifth seed Naveed Rehman 11-3, 11-4, 11-5.

No foreign player in participating in the event that now features Pakistani competitors and carries a cash prize of $6,000.

Results (first round):

Tayyab Aslam bt Haseeb Taj 11-3, 11-5, 11-4; Ahsab Irfan bt Mohammad Azlan Khawer 11-4, 11-7, 11-4; Mohammad Farhan bt A Moez 11-4, 11-7, 11-8; Waqar Mehboob bt Farhan Zaman 11-6, 11-4, 11-7; Zahir Shah bt Bilal Khan 11-6, 11-4, 11-4; Salman Saleem bt Khushal Riaz 11-1, 11-4, 11-5; Mohammad Abdul Qadir bt Naveed Rehman 11-3, 11-4, 11-5; Mehran Javed bt Amad Fareed 11-8, 11-4, 11-2; Israr Ahmed bt Faizan Khan 11-3, 11-1, 11-0; Zeeshan Zeb bt Tayyab Rauf 11-2, 11-6, 11-2; Farhan Hashmi bt Faraz Mohammad 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 12-14, 12-14, 11-5; Noor Zaman bt Ibrahim Noorani 11-5, 11-7, 11-5; Waqas Mehboob bt Hassan Raza 11-9, 14-12, 11-8; Hamza Sharif bt Usman nadeem 11-5, 11-4, 11-7; Saeed Abdul bt Uzair 10-12, 11-9, 11-2, 11-5; Asim Khan bt Abdul Mughni 13-11, 11-3, 13-11.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2021