KARACHI, Jan 5: Five Pakistani youngsters entered the semifinals of British Junior Open (BJO) championships after winning their quarterfinals in different events on Wednesday at Sheffield.

According to details made available on Thursday, second seed Amir Atlas Khan was the only Pakistani to reach the last four stages of U-19 event as two of his compatriots fell in the quarterfinal stages.

Amir defeated Simon Rosner of Germany after a hectic four sets encounter 9-3, 9-7, 5-9, 9-2 while his cousin Asian Junior champion, Farhan Mehboob had to pull out of the quarterfinal following thigh injury after losing first set to Egyptian Omer Mosaad.

Bilal Zaman was the other Pakistani who faced defeat when he was thrashed by top seed Ramay Ashour of Egypt in straight sets 9-2, 9-6, 9-2. Amir will meet Chris Simpson of England in the semifinal.

Sohaib Hasan was the only Pakistani to sail into the semifinal of U-17 event following his impressive victory over English player Adrian Waller by 9-5, 9-4, 9-2 in the quarterfinal. He will meet Muhammad A Reda of Egypt in the semifinal.

Favourite Farhan Zaman had to stretch hard before winning his quarterfinal match against Khaled Al Feky of Egypt in full-fledge five sets in the U-15 event. Zaman will face another Egyptian Adel Zarka in his semifinal encounter.

The U-13 event saw both Pakistani quarterfinalists advancing into semifinals after winning their respective matches.

Hamza Bukhari was the first one to advance to the semifinal after five sets victory over David Wardil of England while Nasir Iqbal trounced Egyptian Marwan El Shourbagy in straight sets to confirm his semifinal berth.

Hamza will meet Muhammad Ab El Ghar (EGY) while Nasir will take on Ghar’s compatriot Karim Fathy in other semifinal.

In the under-15 girls, Nouran Alaa El Torky of Egypt dumped Ana Batool Kardar of Pakistan 9-2, 9-1, 9-0 while in the girls under-19 group, Fiona Mourley (England) defeated Maria Toor 10-9, 9-6, 10-8.

Results:

Boys U-19 (quarterfinals): Ramay Ashour (EGY) bt Bilal Zaman (PAK) 9-2, 9-6, 9-2; Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Farhan Mehboob (Pak) 9-4, 7-5 (Retired); Amir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 9-3, 9-7, 5-9, 9-2

Boys U-17 (quarterfinal): Shohaib Hassan (PAK) bt Adrian Waller (Eng) 9-5, 9-4, 9-2

Boys U-15 (quarterfinals): Mohamed El Shourbagy (EGY) bt Aurangzeb Mohmund (PAK) 9-0, 9-3, 9-6; Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt Saqib Yousaf (PAK) 9-5, 6-9,9-2, 9-1; Farhan Zaman (PAK) bt Khaled El Feky (EGY) 9-7, 8-10, 9-10, 9-2, 9-2

Boys U-13 (quarterfinals): Hamza Bokhari (PAK) bt David Wardil (ENG) 9-7, 7-9, 6-9, 9-5,9-4; Nasir Iqbal (PAK) bt Marwan El Shourbagy (Egy) 9-5, 9-5, 9-6.—Agencies