LAHORE - Only Pakistan hope Tayyab Aslam on Thursday crashed out of the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) International Squash Tournament 2021 as he was beaten by French player Auguste Dussourd in the semifinal and now will face Moustafa El Shirty of Egypt in the final at Mushaf Squash Complex Islamabad.
The first semifinal of the day proved to be a closely-contested event, where the French player Auguste faced tough resistance from Pakistani player before winning the crucial match with a score of 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 3-11, 11-4 after a hard-fought 60-minute battle.
After losing first two games by 9-11 and 7-11, Tayyab made a strong comeback in the match as he first comfortably won the third game with a margin of 11-3 and then continued his good show in the fourth game as well and won it by 11-4. The audience pinned high hopes with the local lad, but after playing so well, he ran out of gas, and firm and fit French player displayed his best game and won the decisive game 11-4 to qualify for the final.
In the second semifinal, Egyptian player Moustafa El Sirty beat World No 71 Henry Leung from Hong Kong by 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 in 41 minutes match as he shown his best game in the very crucial match, which helped him book berth in the final, where he will take on French player Auguste.
In the women’s event first semifinal, World No 81 Salma El Tayab of Egypt beat World No 102 Fayrouz Aboelkheir of Egypt with a game score of 11-7, 7-11, 11-6 and 12-10 as the match lasted for 33 minutes. In the second semifinal, World No 69 Marie Stephan of France stormed into the final with her attacking game against talented Nadeen Kotb of Egypt. She won with the score of 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9 in 31-minute fight.
The finals of mens and women event will be played on Friday (today) which organised by Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) in collaboration with Pakistan Air Force, Serena Hotels and Combaxx Sports.