ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: Mansoor Zaman was at his brilliant best on Saturday upsetting world No. 16 Ong Beng Hee as Pakistan blanked Malaysia 3-0 to advance to the next round of the World Team squash championship.

In an epic match, Mansoor edged his superior opponent 9-6, 0-9, 9-10, 9-3, 9-3 ensuring that Pakistan stayed on track in their bid to improve upon their 9th place finish at the last edition in Austria.

It was a well-deserved victory for Mansoor who despite losing a closely-contested third game, came back strongly to take the next two.

His efforts on court pleased coach Jamshed Gul.

“He did really well, it was a tough match for him yet he kept his nerves to win.”

Pakistan’s victory in which Safeerullah Khan and Farhan Mahboob also defeated their respective rivals, put them in a clash with Holland on Sunday.

“So far things have gone as planned and if we win tomorrow, we will face France in the quarterfinals,” said Jamshed who knows the Malaysian style of play just too well, having been their coach previously.

Safeerullah Khan thrashed Mohd Nafiizwan 9-3, 9-7, 9-0 facing some resistance only in the second game while Farhan dispatched Timothy Arnold 9-4, 9-3, 9-1.

Apart from Pakistan in Pool F, Malaysia also went through to the next stage of competition. They had rested their key player M. Azlan Iskander on Saturday.

Also advancing were defending champions Australia, top seeds England, Egypt, France, Canada, Wales, the Netherlands, India and South Africa.

The top four seeds England, Egypt, France and Australia will get a bye in the second round.

England continued their march with a 3-0 hammering of Austria, Peter Nicol, James Willstrop and Lee Beachill making short work of their opponents.

In what was truly a cakewalk, Nicol handed Stefen Brauneis a 9-1, 9-1, 9-2 defeat with Willstrop knocking out Aqeel Rehman 9-1, 9-0, 9-0.

Lee Beachill beat Jakob Dimberger 9-4, 9-2, 9-4 to complete the destruction of Austria.

Number 9 seeds Holland received the Australian treatment, going down 0-3 to the champions for whom Joseph Kneipp, Anthony Ricketts and Stuart Boswell notched up wins.

Egypt, the No 2 seeds had little time for New Zealand, Wael Al Hendi, Amr Shabana and Karim Darwish ruthless as usual.

Al Hendi crushed Martin Knight 9-2, 9-2, 9-1 and Shabana defeated Kashif Shuja, a player of Pakistani origin 9-4, 9-0, 9-0. Darwish was the most impressive of all Egyptians and dropped only a point against Callum Brien.

Results:

Pakistan bt Malaysia 3-0 (Safeerullah Khan bt Mohd Nafiizwan 9-3, 9-7, 9-0, Mansoor Zaman bt Ong Beng Hee 9-6, 0-9, 9-10, 9-3, 9-3, Farhan Mahboob bt Timothy Arnold 9-4, 9-3, 9-1

Scotland bt Spain 3-0 (Stuart Crawford bt A Grabir 1-9, 9-2, 9-2, 9-2, John White bt Lago Carnos 9-2, 9-5, 9-3, Harry Leitch bt David Vidal 9-7, 9-4, 10-9)

India bt Ireland 2-1 (Siddharath bt Brian Byrne 9-5, 9-1, 9-2, Liam Kenny (Ireland) bt Riwik Bhattacharya 9-7, 9-3, 9-6, Saurav Ghosal bt Arthur Gaskin 6-9, 9-5, 9-0, 9-1)

Egypt bt New Zealand 3-0 (Wael Al Hendi bt Martin Knight 9-2, 9- 2, 9-1, Amr Shabana bt Kashif Shuja 9-4, 9-0, 9-0, Karim Darwish bt Callum Brien 9-1, 9-0, 9-0)

Germany bt Iran 3-0 (Patrick Gassuer bt M. Hassan Jafri 9-3, 9-3, 9-0, Stefan Leifels bt Majid Rohani 9-2, 9-4, 9-3, Simon Baker bt P. Ahmed Abadi 9-2, 9-3, 9-5)

England bt Austria 3-0 (Peter Nicol bt Stefen Brauneis 9-1, 9-1, 9-2, James Willstrop bt Aqeel Rehman 9-1, 9-0, 9-0, Lee Beachill bt Jakob Dimberger 9-4, 9-2, 9-4)

Australia bt Netherlands 3-0 (Joseph Kneipp bt Marcus Reus 9-0, 9-1, 9-2, Anthony Ricketts bt L. Jan Anjema 9-3, 9-3, 9-1, Stuart Boswell bt Tom Hoevenaars 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)

Wales by Hong Kong 3-0 (Gavin Jones bt Anson Kwong 9-2, 9-1, 9-2, Alex Gough bt Wong Wai Hang 1-9, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4, David Evans bt Dick Lau 9-3, 9-2, 9-1)

Finland bt USA 2-1 (Hameed Ahmed bt Bean River 0-9, 9-7, 9-5, 9- 1, Olli Tuominen bt Preston Quick 9-7, 9-0, 9-1, Jullian Illingworth (USA) bt Matias Toumi 8-10, 2-9, 9-5, 9-0, 9-2)

South Africa bt Kuwait 2-1 (Nasse Ramzy (Kuwait) bt Rowan Smith 9-6, 9-2, 9-4, Rodney Durbach bt Abdullah Mezayen 9-6, 9-5, 9-4, Mike Tootill bt Bader Al Hussaini 6-9, 9-6, 6-9, 9-4, 9-3).