KARACHI, Nov 5: The final of the CNS International squash championship for the first time ever will be an all-Pakistan affair after top two seeds, Farhan Mehboob and Amir Atlas Khan, won their semi-finals in contrasting style at the PN Roshan Khan–Jahangir Khan Squash Complex on Wednesday.

Farhan, the top seed and runner-up of the last event, took 13 minutes to post 11-6, 8-3 victory over third seed Mansoor Zaman, who was forced to quit with a painful left shin.

“The recurrence of the pain compelled me to surrender midway through the match,” Mansoor, 27, who whipped Amjad Khan in five games quarter-final the other day, told Dawn after the match.

Incidentally, the clash was a repeat of last year’s CNS championship when two-time runner-up Mansoor went down to Farhan in the semis.

Farhan, who is world No 29th, enjoyed an edge over Mansoor and after getting some initial resistance won the first game 11-6 in nine minutes.

Maintaining the pace, Farhan took a 8-3 lead in the second game and was about to wrap up the game when Mansoor opted to throw in the towel. The second game lasted for four minutes and disappointed all and sundry. Farhan was awarded two strokes, one in each game, by the referee Tahir Khanzada.

Second seed Amir Atlas Khan, meanwhile, struggled hard before winning 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 against fifth seed Yasir Butt in 43 minutes.

World No 34 Amir won in straight games but was given tough time by his opponent.

“I’m not satisfied with my performance because committing so many unforced errors that changed the complexion of the match,” a dejected Yasir who had beaten Amir in first round of Malaysian Open last year told Dawn.

“Besides, I was experiencing pain in my right wrist that prevented me from hitting the ball,” the 20-year-old Yasir, who is ranked 52nd in the world, added.

The match was evenly fought and at times the players were engaged in long rallies.

Amir, the winner of the Chief of the Army Staff and Chief of the Air Staff titles this year, had to recover many times to draw level at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 before winning the opener 11-9. Both the players earned two strokes apiece in the first game.

Yasir started aggressively in the next game by taking a 3-0 advantage and enjoyed the lead until 9-8 before losing 9-11.

Despite trailing down, Yasir did not lose heart and was 5-2 up before Amir leveled 5-5 and went on to take 6-5 lead. While playing a return, Amir collided with Yasir and the two fell on the court. The match was stopped for a while before Amir eventually won 11-8.

The winner of the $25,000 CNS championship will receive $3,971 while the runner-up will fetch up $2,717.

Results:

Semi-finals: Farhan Mehboob bt Mansoor Zaman 11-6, 8-3 — Mansoor retired; Amir Atlas Khan bt Yasir Butt 11-9, 11-9, 11-8.

Thursday’s fixtures: Farhan Mehboob v Amir Atlas Khan (final) at 3.30pm.