ISLAMABAD - Wildcard recipient Noor Zaman stunned Egyptian Ahmed Hosny 3-1 in the first round match of the $20,000 Serena Hotels-Huawei Pakistan International Squash Tournament 2019 for men here at Mushaf Squash Complex on Sunday.
Noor Zaman, grandson of squash legend Qamar Zaamn, got wildcard for the tournament and he fully justified his selection by surprising his superior opponent in the first round match. Noor started the first game well by taking a hefty lead before Hosny staging mini-comeback to make it 9-all. But Noor then fought back well to win the game 11-9. After playing so well, Noor allowed his opponent to play freely, who took the advantage fully and won the second game 11-5. Noor then prevailed over his opponent to win the third game 11-5 and won the fourth 11-4 to complete a memorable victory. Farhan Zaman also played well against wildcard recipient Zeeshan Zeb and outperformed him 3-1, with the scores of 11-5, 12-10, 11-9
In other matches of the day, Youssef Ibrahim of Egypt got bye while Chi Him Wong of Hong Kong beat Israr Ahmad 9-11, 11-1, 11-8 and 11-6, Curtis Malik of England beat Mohammad Alsaraj of Jordon 11-8, 12-14, 11-5, 13-15, 11-6, Asim Khan got bye, Farhan Mehboob got bye, Amaad Fareed beat Darren Rahul Pragasam of Malaysia 11-2, 8-11, 11-1, 11-8, Mazen Gamal of Egypt and Tayyab Aslam got byes.
Yahya Elnawasany of Egypt beat Aqeel Rehman of Austria 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3, Tsz Kwan Lau of Hong Kong and Rui Soares of Portugal got byes, Yannik Omlor of Germany beat Khaled Labib of Egypt 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, Tang Ming Hong of Hong Kong beat Ong Sai Hung of Malaysia 4-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3 and Mohamed ElSherbini of Egypt got bye.
In women’s $13,000 Serena Hotels-Huawei Pakistan International Squash Tournament 2019, Tsz-Wing Tong of Hong Kong got bye, Hana Moataz of Egypt beat Maira Hussain of Pakistan 11-1, 11-5, 11-1, Shahd El Refaey of Egypt beat Rushna Mehboob of Pakistan 11-8, 11-7, 11-4, Farah Momen of Egypt got bye, Waen Li Lai of Malaysia got bye, Moqaddas Ashraf beat Nimra Aqeel 11-3, 11-5, 11-2.
Saima Shaukat beat Komal Khan 11-8, 1-11, 11-7, 11-8, Farida Mohamed of Egypt got bye, Meena Hamed of Egypt got bye, Faiza Zafar beat Zynab Khan (WC) 11-4, 11-6, 11-7, Anam Mustafa Aziz beat Noorena Shams 11-2, 11-1, 11-0, Cindy Merlo of Switzerland got bye, Nadia Pfister of Switzerland got bye, Amna Fayyaz beat Ilsa Imran (WC) 11-9, 11-2, 11-4, Madina Zafar beat Noor ul Huda 11-4, 7-11, 11-2, 11-6 and Sabrina Sobhy of USA got bye. The second round matches will start today (Monday) at 12:00pm.
PSF Senior Vice President Air Vice Marshal Aamir Masood also visited Mushaf Squash Complex and witnessed the matches. He also had detailed interaction with local and foreign players, who were present at the event, while IPC Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani was also there to witness the matches.