LAHORE: Four Pakistanis including Tayyab Aslam, Farhan Mehboob and Israr Ahmad toppled foreign players while Asim Khan ousted compatriot Amaad Fareed to cruise into the quarter-final of the FMC International Men’s Squash Championship at the Punjab Squash Complex courts here on Tuesday.

Four foreigner players also entered the quarter-finals which will be played in the four-side-glass courts, especially installed at a local hotel’s premises.

Tayyab routed Hong Kong’s Chi Him Wong 11-5, 11-1 (retired hurt). Tayyab was in superb form and played aggressive game right from the word go as he won the first game 11-5 and proved more merciless in the second to win it by a big margin of 11-1.

Wong, on the other side, failed to maintain his stamina and complaining of pain, preferred to lose the match by refusing to comeback on the court for the third one.

Mehboob was also in good form against Hong Kong’s Tsz Kwan Lau as he took just 26 minutes to carve out a 11-7, 12-10, 11-7 victory .

Mehboob was off to a flying start to win the first game. Lau showed his presence in the second game but lost it after dominance exchanged hands frequently throughout the game.

In the third game, Mehboob proved a better player both in skill and stamina as he won it 11-7 to move into the last eight.

Israr had to face a tough challenge from Mohammad Syafiq Kamal of Malaysia before winning the marathon 40-minute match 11-6, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6.

Israr won the first game 11-6 but lost the second 10-12. However, Israr wrapped up victory in next two games to confirm a place in the quarter-finals.

Asim outlasted compatriot Fareed with utmost ease in just 30 minutes with the score of 11-2, 11-5, 11-5.

Asim dominated right from the start and won the first game 11-2. He kept pressure on his opponent and also took the second game 11-5 and won the third and decisive one with the same margin to join the other three Pakistanis in the quarters.

In other matches, Syed Ali Mujtaba Shah Bukhari of Pakistan lost to Malaysia’s Ivan Yuen 11-7, 11-2, 11-8 in 26 minutes.

Egyptian Mazan Gamal defeated Henry Leung of Hong Kong 11-7, 11-9, 12-10 in 39 minutes, Another Egyptian Youssef Soliman outlasted Robert Downer of England 11-9, 11-9, 12-10 in 37 minutes while French Auguste Dussourd took 57 minutes to beat Hong Kong’s Tang Ming Hong 13-11, 2-11, 13-11, 3-11, 11-9 after a tough fight.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2018