All Pakistan Squash Championship qualifying round begins

PESHAWAR (APP): All Pakistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Men’s Squash Championship got under way under the aegis of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Squash Association here at PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex.

Manager Bacha Khan International Airport Peshawar Obaid Ur Rehman of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was the chief guest on this occasion who formally inaugurated the Championship. President KP Squash Association Qamar Zaman, Members Executive Committee Sher Bahadur Khan, Sajjad Khalil, PAF Academy Head Coach Atlas Khan, PAF Academy coaches, players and spectators were also present.

Soon after inauguration of the Championship, Obaid-ur-Rehman also announced to hold first DG CAA Junior Boys Under-11, Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 Championship on the same venue this year and said that it would a continue activity sponsored by CAA.

Secretary KP Squash Association and son of Qamar Zaman Munawar Zaman informed that all the top seeded players are taking part in the Championship. He said a total of 32 players are taking part in the first and second qualifying rounds with six players have been shorty-lsited as reserves. The main round will be started from Jan 15, 2020 with 12 top ranking and four qualifiers would vie for the top honor.

Farhan Mehboob is top seed of the Championship with Danish Atlas Khan is the second seeded. He said Zahir Shah of PAF, Farhan Zaman, Israr Khan of SNGPL, Ali Bukhari, Zeeshan Zaib, Abbas Shoukat, Sadam Ul Haq, Muhammad Farhan, Bilal Zakir, Noor Zaman are the other seeded players.

In the qualifiers Waqar Mehboob of KP and and Muhammad Bilal moved to the third round after recording victories against their respective rivals. Waqar Mehboob of KP beat Khushal Riaz of PIA in the second qualifier in by 3-1, the score was 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7 and 11-6 and also beat Arbab Aziz in straight sets, the score was 3-0, 11-7, 11-7 and 11-9. Bilal beat Faheem Ahmed of Punjab and Abdul Qadir of Sindh and setup clash with Waqar Mehboob in the third qualifier.

Waqas Gul beat Muhammad Khan of KP (3-0) and Ehsan Zulfiqar of Punjab (3-0) and Mehran Javed of PAF beat Salam Zeb of Army and Usman Youqoob of Army in straight sets (3-0). Salman Saleem of Punjab beat Muhammad Sami Ullah of KP and Zeeshan Sadiq of KP in straight sets 3-0 while Uzair Shoukat of KP beat Junaid Rehmnan of KP and Muhammad Ahsan of Sindh in straight sets 3-0 and Raees Khan of Army beat Asif Mehmood of Punjab in his first qualify match and overpowered Salman Shah of KP in the second qualifier by moving to the third round.