LAHORE - Pakistan’s Tayyab Aslam beat Tsz Kwan Lau of Hong Kong to breeze into the semifinals of the $30,000 Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) International Squash being played at Mushaf Squash Complex Islamabad.
In the first quarterfinal, Tayyab lost the first game against Tsz Kwan Lau from Hong Kong 10-12. After that, Tayyab held his nerves and started playing aggressive squash, which helped him win the second game 11-9. Tayyab maintained his supremacy in the remaining two games, taking them 11-6 and 11-8, thus booked his berth in the semifinals. In the second quarterfinal, Pakistan’s Farhan Zaman missed victory in the decisive game against French player Auguste Dussourd due to a controversial decision by the match referee. In the fifth and decisive game, Auguste Dussourd was leading by 8-7 and during the rally, he came in front of Zaman but the match referee not only refused to give point to Farhan but also gave controversial decision to awarding a point to the French player, which helped him win the crucial match 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-2, 11-8.
Interestingly, tournament’s second seed Karim El Hammamy of Egypt, who won close match against Pakistan’s Israr Ahmed 3-2, couldn’t appear in the squash arena due to high fever and unable to play quarterfinal against Hong Kong’s Henry Leung, who was declared winner and qualified for the semifinals while Moustafa El Sirty of Egypt beat Max Lee from Hong Kong 11-7,12-10,11-6 in the fourth quarter final match.