Lahore - The first qualifying round matches of the SNGPL Pakistan International Squash Circuit-II men’s and women’s 2018 were played here at the Punjab Squash Complex on Monday.

In the first qualify round of men’s senior category, Zahir Shah (Pak) defeated Saifullah (Pak) by 12/10, 11/7, 11/7 in 29 minutes, Noman Khan (Pak) routed Zain Ramzan (Pak) 3-0 with the score of 11/7, 11/4, 11/4 in 25 minutes, M Farhan (Pak) beat M Abdul Qadir (Pak) in hard-fought match by 9/11, 13/11, 14/12, 14/12 in 30 minutes, Uzair Shaukat (Pak) downed Salman Saleem (Pak) by 6/11, 11/6, 11/5, 11/5 in 25 minutes.

Danish Atlas Khan (Pak) had a marathon match against M Uzair (Pak), which he won conceding just one game with the score of 11/1, 10/12, 11/6, 11/6 in 39 minutes, Waqar Mehboob (Pak) faced a little resistance in winning his match against Mansoor Zaman (Pak) as he won the 44-minute long marathon match by 12/10, 3/11, 12/10, 11/3, Haris Qasim (Pak) beat Haseeb Taj (Pak) quite easily as he completed the rout in just 13 minutes with the score of 11/4, 11/3, 11/2 and in the last match of the day, Bilal Zakir (Pak) beat Abdul Malik Khan (Pak) by 10/12, 12/10, 11/8, 9/11, 11/8 in a closely-contested 45-minute match. All the winners have booked berth for the second qualifying round to be contested today (Tuesday) while the main round will get underway tomorrow (Wednesday).

SNGPL Managing Director Amjad Latif graced the opening ceremony as chief guest and inaugurated the international squash event in the presence of Pakistan Squash Federation vice president Tahir Khanzada, Punjab Squash Association (PSA) officials, SNGPL Sports Cell President Suhail Gulzar, vice president M Waseem, Gen Secretary Ashraf Nadeem, Sr GMs Syed Jawad Naseem and M Aslam, GMs M Arshad and Amir Latif, Chief Admin Officer Khalid Mehmood, Member Sports Adeela, Sports Officer M Haroon, Manager Farrukh Amin, coaches and players.

Speaking on the occasion, SNGPL MD Amjad Latif said: “This SNGPL-sponsored event has brought back international squash to Lahore. I am glad to see a huge participation of players in the mega tournament, which will help in bringing more international sports events in Lahore. SNGPL has always supported sports and it will continue its efforts for the promotion and betterment of sports in Pakistan.

The dynamic leadership of Pakistan Squash Federation has been striving hard for the uplifting of squash and soon Pakistan squash will regain its lost glory in this game, which the country has ruled for decades.”

The international event began with an exhibition match played between top seeds of the tournament Tayyab Aslam and Israr Ahmad. Both the players amused the chief guest, guest of honours and the spectators through their outstanding games and skills. After a tough fight, Tayyab managed to win the exhibition match and was widely applauded by the entire spectators.