PESHAWAR: Top seed Noor Zaman of PAF on Thursday entered the semi-finals of the Wazir Gul National Junior Squash Championship being played here at PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex.
In the first quarter-final Noor Zaman defeated Abbas Nawaz in a thrilling 3-1 battle, the score was 11-5, 6-11, 11-9 and 11-8. Noor did not give much time to Abbas to settle down in the whole proceedings and marched into victory.
In the second quarter-final, Tayyub Rauf of Punjab defeated Ashab Irfan by 3-1, the score was 10-12, 11-9, 11-7 and 11-7. Tayyub Rauf played well and did not look behind once he started playing. Muhammad Hamza of PAF beat Huizaifa Zahid of KP by 3-0 in straight sets, the score was 11-6, 11-7 and 11-9 and Hammad Khan of KP beat Muhammad Ammad of PAF by 3-1.
In the Under-17 category, Uzair Shoukat, Hamza Sharif, Rashid Daulat and Muhammad Saqib Iqbal moved to the semi-final after recording victories against their respective rivals.
In the first quarter-final, Uzair Shoukat defeated Ahmad Hashmi by 3-0, the score was 11-9, 11-6 and 11-7, Hamza Sharif overpowered Khushal Riaz of PAF in straight sets, the score was 11-6, 11-7 and 11-9. Rashid Daulat faced tough resistance against Hassan Raza of Punjab in the five sets battle lasted for 48 minutes. Rashid Daulat won the first two sets by 12-10 and 11-9 but failed to click in the third and fourth sets won by Hassan Raza at 10-12 and 8-11. It was the fifth set when Rashid Daulat came again by winning the set at 11-9.
In the last quarter-final, Muhammad Saqib Iqbal of PAF defeated Atif Malik of Punjab by 3-1, the score was 6-11, 11-9, 11-8 and 11-9. Muhammad Saqib Iqbal played well and after losing the first set, staged a strong comeback and won three consecutive sets and moved to the semi-final.
In the Under-19 category, Zeeshan Zeb recorded a victory against Zeeshan Malik in straight sets the score was 11-9, 11-7 and 11-9. In the other matches Saif Ullah beat Junaid Khan by 3-0, the score was 11-9, 11-7 and 11-9 and Zeeshan Gul beat Shehzad Ali by 3-0, the score was 11-7, 11-9 and 11-9 and Abbas Zeb beat Saad Abdullah by 3-0, the score was 11-9, 11-9 and 11-7.
