ISLAMABAD - Waqas Mehboob continued his giant-killing run in the second round of the $10,000 Pakistan International Squash Tournament-2019 as he ousted former Asian Junior individual champion Syed Ali Mujtaba Shah Bukhari 3-1 in the second round played here at Mushaf Squash Complex on Tuesday.
While in the $5000 women event, Maria Toor Pakia sent shocks among other competitors as she thrashed top seed Madina Zafar 3-1 in just 32 minutes to book quarterfinal place.
It was a day of upsets as number of top players had to suffer shocking defeats. Future of Pakistan squash Haris Qasim hammered one of the most talked about players of recent times Ahsan Ayaz in straight games. It seems like Haris was toying with highly experienced PSA player, Ahsan, who was most recently dubbed to not only become country’s number 1 player but lot of investment was also made on Ahsan, who was playing number of international events in different countries.
In the first match of the day, it was about Waqas, bother of Pakistan’s arguably highly coveted player of modern era Farhan Mehboob, against Ali, who was a top junior player but failed miserably to convert his sheer talent when it comes to senior level. It was expected to be one-sided affair, as Ali was enjoying top form and playing regular squash, while on the other hand, Waqas is starting squash after long gap. But Waqas proved that he had champions blood in him, as he displayed top class squash and completely outclassed his opponent.
Waqas started first game slowly and Ali was playing at electrifying pace, his control and powerful shots were hard to control for Waqas as Ali took the first game 11-9. Second game also started on a whirlwind fashion and both players were involved in long rallies and were not ready to concede. Ali missed number of golden chances to close the game but his unforced error prevented him from taking second game as Waqas bounced back to take the game 12-10. After playing so well, Ali was out of the gas and was looking tired while Waqas was looking fresh and hungry. Waqas won the third game 11-6. Fourth game was also played on a high note but after matching fire with fire, Ali lost momentum and Waqas finished off the match and game 11-8, thus winning the encounter in 50 minutes of pure entertainment and sheer class.
It was arguably one of the biggest matches in young Haris as he was up against seasoned campaigner Ahsan. But to the much of surprise of crowd and fellow players, Ahsan failed to pose any fight at all and were given a squash lesson by Haris who won 11-1, 11-0 and 11-2 in just 8 minutes.
In other matches of the day, top seed Tayyab Aslam had to face stiff resistance before disposing off Hamza Sharif 3-0 in 24 minutes, winning 11-7, 11-6 and 11-8. Israr Ahmad beat Tariq Khan 11-5, 11-5, 10-12 and 11-3 in 27 mins, Farhan Zaman beat Mohammad Bilal 11-8, 12-10, 11-4 in 18 mins, Asim Khan beat Zahir Shah 10-12, 11-4, 11-6 and 11-7 in 53 mins, Amaad Fareed beat Naveed Rehman 12-10, 11-2, 11-2 in 19 mins and veteran Farhan Mehboob was given real run for the money by former Pakistan number 1 Danish Atlas Khan before going down fighting in 35 minutes. Farhan took the first game 11-8, he went onto take second game 11-9 and had to survive very close scare before winning third game 13-11.
It was the most shocking upset witnessed in the second round of the $5000 women event as top seed Madina Zafar was thrashed by former Pakistan number 1 Maria Toor pakai 3-1 in 32 minutes of pure quality. Maria won 11-7, 9-11, 11-4 and she -10. In other matches, Noor Ul Huda beat Zaynab Khan 11-6, 11-2, 11-4 in 14 mins, Anam Mustafa Aziz beat Aiman Shahbaz 11-7, 11-9, 3-11, 13-15, 11-8 in 36 mins, Amna Fayyaz beat Fehmina Asim 11-3, 11-3, 11-5 in 16 mins), Riffat Khan beat Komal Khan 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 in 18 mins, Saima Shaukat beat Nimra Aqeel 11-9, 11-5, 2-11, 11-5 in 17 mins, Rushna Mehboob beat Hira Aqeel 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 in 16 mins and in the last match, Muqaddas Ashraf beat Noor Ul Ain Ijaz 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 in just 17 minutes.