PESHAWAR, Feb 17: The main round of the Hashim Khan National Junior squash championship will be held from today here at the PAF Squash Complex.

The championship, which is an annual feature of the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) calendar, carries a purse of Rs. 200,000 with more than 200 players vying for the title in Under-11, Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 age groups.

On Saturday, twelve matches in each category were played, as top four players will join the main round of all the five categories. In the Under-11 category, twelve matches were decided with several being one-sided affairs apart from three thrilling battles.

Mohammad Wajid beat Furqanullah of NWFP 7-9, 10-8, 9-5, 9-5, Shan upset Mohammad Arif 6-9, 9-2, 9-5, 9-10, 10-8 while Shoaib Ahmed beat Mohammad Wajid 9-2, 4-9, 1-9, 9-6, 9-3.

In the Under-13 category, Mohammad Asim of Punjab beat Faheem Gul of the PAF 8-10, 9-3, 9-7, 10-9 while Zeeshan Shaukat, Fazal Mahmood and Waheed Khan beat Adil Khan, Mansoor Jan and Shoaib Habib respectively in straight sets.

In the Under-15 category, only one match stretched to four sets. PAF’s Nasir Iqbal, the recent Under-13 winner at the British Open Junior event, faced tough resistance from Punjab’s Naqash Shahid. The score was 9-5, 9-6, 7-9, 10-8.

Salam Jaffar, Danish Alam, Ahmed Amin, Waqas Gul Shah Hussain, Mohammad Shakeel defeated their rivals Arif Gul, Waqas Khan, Ahmed Sethi, Haider Gul Turab Khan respectively in straight sets.

In the Under-17 category, Mohammad Bilal had to work hard before downing PAF’s Owais Khan 9-6, 9-7, 6-9, 4-9, 9-4.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Ayaz beat Rizwan Khan of NWFP 5-9, 9-7, 10-8, 7-9, 9-4, Shanullah overcame Bilal Khan of Punjab 9-10, 10-8, 9-4, 9-4 while all the remaining matches were one-sided affairs as Owais Rahim beat Mohammad Ibrahim, Mohammad Bilal defeated Aamir Habib, Owais Khan overwhelmed Mohammad Sohail, Rohail Aslam trounced Atif Abrar, Jawad Noorani tamed Zeeshan, Mahad Javed outplayed Wajid Rasool and Jawad Noorani won easily against Sanaullah.

In the Under-19 category, Izhar Khan beat Rarosh Raza of Punjab after a close match 5-9, 0-9, 9-4, 9-0, 9-7; Naveed Khan of NWFP beat Intikhab Alam of PAF 10-9, 2-9, 9-6, 3-9, 9-3.

In other matches decided in straight sets Zahid Shah, Raza Yaqoob, Omair Mateen, Owais Gul and Waqar Mahboob beat Adnan Khan, Yasir Mahboob, Zahid Gul, Jahanzeb, Zahid Gul and Naveed Khan respectively. —APP