KARACHI, Nov 12: It was a day of upsets in the sixth Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) international squash championship as three Pakistani seeded players including the top two, made unceremonious exit in the first round at the PN Roshan - Jahangir squash complex on Saturday.
Top seed and runner-up of the last edition, Shahid Zaman, went down to England’s Mark Heather 11-9, 2-11, 10-11 (4-3) and 9-11 in 34 minutes.
Arshad Burki disposed of second seed and fellow countryman, Mansoor Zaman, in four games 6-11, 11-8, 11-4 and 11-3.
Qualifier Amjad Khan pulled off a major upset when he toppled fourth seed Shamsul Islam 5-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8 and 11-6.
Joining the above three winners in the second round were Basit Ishfaq, Jonathan Kemp, Hashim M. Ashour, Aamir Atlas and Khayal Khan.
Ranked 16th in the world, Shahid was not in his true elements and at times was caught on wrong foot by his opponent Heather.
The Englishman fought well until 9-9 in the opener before going down 9-11 in 11 minutes.
Making amends of his loss, Heather levelled the score one-all taking the second game 11-2 in seven minutes. Shahid did not make any effort and surrendered the game tamely.
The top Pakistani player, however, bounced back in the third taking a 7-2 lead. At that stage Heather fought back and raced on to make the score 6-7. The two were later tied at 10-10 thus extending the match to a tie-breaker. Heather enhanced his lead by grabbing the game 11-10 (4-3).
Finally, Heather took 12 minutes to wrap up the match taking the fourth game 11-9.
Heather is to meet Pakistan’s Basit in the second round on Sunday.
First round results: Mark Heather (Eng) bt Shahid Zaman (Pak) 9-11, 11-2, 11-10, 11-9; Basit Ishfaq (Pak) bt Yasir Butt (Pak) 11-6, 11-9, 11-8; Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bt Safeerullah Khan (Pak) 11-5, 11-10, 11-2; Hashim M. Ashour (Egy) bt Khawaja Adil Maqbool (Pak) 11-4, 11-10, 11-5; Aamir Atlas Khan (Pak) bt Farhan Mahboob (Pak) 11-10, 11-10, 11-9; Amjad Khan (Pak) bt Shams-ul-Islam (Pak) 5-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 11-6; Khayal M. Khan (Pak) bt Khalid Atlas (Pak) 11-9, 5-11, 11-4, 11-3; Arshad Burki (Pak) bt Mansoor Zaman (Pak) 6-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-3.
Sunday’s fixtures: Second round (Matches starts at 2.00pm) Mark Heather (Eng) v Basit Ishfaq (Pak), Jonathan Kemp (Eng) v Hashim M. Ashour (Egy); Aamir Atlas (Pak) v Amjad Khan (Pak) ; Khayal M. Khan (Pak) v Arshad Burki (Pak).