ISLAMABAD-Both Pakistani players Tayyab Aslam and Asim Khan crashed out in the qualifying round finals of the $35,000 Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Tayyab, who recently won the Circuit-III title after defeating Farhan Zaman, lost to French Victor Crouin 2-3. In the first match, Tayyab won the first game 11-4, but lost the next two games 7-11 and 9-11, before winning the fourth game 14-12. But in the fifth and decisive game, Tayyab lost 7-11 to bow out of the event.
In the second match, Asim was defeated by local lad M Syafiq Kamal 1-3. Asim was beaten all hands up by young Malaysian Syafiq 3-1. Asim won the first game 11-8, but it was all that he could get from the match as Syafiq won the second game 11-7, third 11-7 and fourth 6-11.
It is a matter of grave concern for Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), as both Asim and Tayyab are the members of Pakistan squash team, which will represent the country in the Asian Games and like Commonwealth Games, where Pakistani players failed to show any significant results, it seems Pakistan will struggle to make any impact in the Asian Games against the best in the business.