KARACHI, Oct 14: Pakistan’s Salman Ahmad, Tahir Virk and Ayesha Khan qualified for the next stage in the men’s and women’s singles by finishing runners-up in their respective groups in the on-going Commonwealth Youth Games in Indian city of Pune on Tuesday.

According to information reaching here, drawn in group three, Salman notched up two victories against a Sri Lankan and a Jamaican opponent before going down to an Englishman to finish runner-up in the group.

He struggled to beat Lankan Walagampala Buddika Prabath 9-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10 in five sets in the opener. In the next match he registered 3-1 victory over Tomlinson Simon Peter of Jamaica the score being 11-5, 6-11, 11-3, 11-4. He went down to Evans Gavin Thomas of England straight 1-11, 5-11, 2-11.

Similarly, Ayesha Khan overcame Namaganda Amina of Uganda 11-7, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8 before going down straight to Indian Mondal Soumi 1-11, 8-11, 1-11.—Sports Correspondent