Talha, Yawar, Bilal and Naveed reach last four

KARACHI: The quartet of Talha Alam, Yawar Ashraf, Bilal Islam and Naveed Rehman reached the semi-finals of the boys under-15 competition on the opening day of the Sindh Ranking Squash Championship which commenced at Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday.

Talha outplayed M. Shoaib 11-1, 11-6 while Yawar was home 11-8, 11-5 against Ali Zeb. Similarly, in the other two quarters, Bilal sent Fawad Asim packing 11-3, 11-9 while Naveed conjured up 14-12, 11-1 victory over Umair Agha.

The girls under-15 event also reached the last-four stage with Amina Fayyaz, Uzma Naz, Fehmina Asim and Noor-ul-Huda completing the line-up.

Results:

Boys under-19:

First round: Faizan Khan bt Saad Masood 11-2, 11-2; Saad Abdullah bt Abdul Ahad 11-3, 11-7; Owais Ahmed bt Aszmeer Malik 11-8, 11-6; Kabeer Alam bt Danish Waheed 11-6, 11-9.

Boys under-15:

Quarter-finals: Talha Alam bt M. Shoaib 11-1, 11-6; Yawar Ashraf bt Ali Zeb 11-8, 11-5; Bilal Islam bt Fawad Asim 11-3, 11-9; Naveed Rehman bt Umair Agha 14-12, 11-1.

Second round: Talha Alam bt Ibrahim Saquib 11-2, 11-1; M Shoaib bt Nael Ashraf 11-8, 1-11, 11-9; Ali Zeb bt Osama Zafar 11-8, 11-5; Yawar Ashraf bt Inam 10-12, 13-11, 11-6; Bilal Islam bt Talha Saeed 11-3, 11-3; Fawaz Asim bt Obaidullah 11-7, 7-11, 11-3; Umair Agha bt Huraira Zafar 12-10, 11-9; Naveed Rehman bt M Huzaifa Ibrahim 11-8, 11-5.

First round: Ibrahim Saquib bt Ahsan Nasir 11-7, 11-9; M Shoaib bt Abdul Basit 11-3, 11-2; Osama Zafar bt Abdullah Nasir Jr 11-0, 11-1; Inam bt Abdullah 11-1, 11-0; Fawaz Asim bt Ali Aslam 11-2, 11-4; Obaidullah bt Taha Malik 11-8, 13-11; Umair Agha bt Humail Ahmed 11-4, 11-4; Huraira Zafar bt Idrees Saquib 11-4, 11-4; M Huzaifa Ibrahim bt M Fahad 11-0, 11-0.

Girls under-15:

Quarter-finals: Amina Fayyaz bt Maira Saleem 11-3, 11-6; Uzma Naz bt Hunaiza Nasir 11-5, 9-11, 11-1; Fehmina Asim bt Mehwish Asim 11-2, 11-4; Noor-ul-Huda bt Zainab 11-4, 11-7.

First round: Amina Fayyaz bt Humara Naz 11-3, 11-0; Hunaiza Nasir bt Aina Shaikh 11-4, 11-7.

Masters 35 to 39 years:

First round: Jahangir Khan Jr bt Moiz Shaikh 11-6, 11-3; Mohibullah Khan bt Abdul Ahad 11-3, 11-0; Shahid Ullah bt Abid Rafique 11-5, 11-4; Faisal Mesiya bt 11-2, 11-2.

Masters 40 to 44 years:

First round: Nadeem Khan bt Asad Khaliq 11-4, 11-4; Zohair Agha bt Col Zafar Iqbal 11-6, 11-0; Malik Mahmood bt Ameen Asher 11-2, 11-0; Abdul Saeed bt Faraz Arham (walkover).

Masters 45 years and above:

Quarter-finals: Salman Qadri bt Adnan Latif (walkover); Aslam Pervaz bt Abdul Hafeez 11-0, 11-6; Abid Butt bt Hassan Mehmood, 11-8, 2-11, 11-7; Mehroz Alam bt Amir Iftikhar, 11-0, 11-1.

First round: Salman Qadri bt Badur-ul-Hassan 11-0, 11-0; Aslam Pervaz bt Asif Idrees 11-3, 11-9; Abid Butt bt Abdul Waheed 14-12, 11-7; Hassan Mehmood bt Shoukat Jamal 11-4, 11-4.—Sports Correspondent

Kashmir Cup starts today

KARACHI: Nine teams including Army, Police and two outfits from the hosts Sindh are set to compete when the All-Pakistan Kashmir Cup Basketball Championship, postponed several times, finally springs into action at the KPT Sports Complex on Monday.

The number of competing teams may increase to 10 as organisers were expecting Navy to turn up for the event which marks the revival of Kashmir Cup after a lay-off, chief organising secretary and a former international Abdul Nasir said on Sunday.

Officials said Army and Navy representatives Havaldar Badar and Nazakat respectively were amongst others who attended the draws meeting at the KPT Sports Complex on Sunday evening. Balochistan was the first team that reached in the metropolis on Sunday while other teams have left for Karachi and expected to reach by Monday morning.

Islamabad, Fata, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan will be lodged at the venue.

According to draws, four matches will be played on the opening day. Iqbal Umer, a former Karachi Basketball Association president and chairman organising committee will formally inaugurate the event.

Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBF) secretary Khalid Bashir is due to arrive from Lahore on Monday.

Groups:

Group ‘A’: Army, Balochistan, Sindh Greens and Fata.

Group ‘B’: Police, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh Reds and Islamabad.

Sindh teams:

Sindh Greens: Asad Ali (captain), Talha Amjad, M. Haroon Khan, Ali Chanzeb, Abdullah Imam, S. Adnan Ali, Mohammad Shabbar, Agha M. Ibrahim, Tashfeen Zaidi, Mohammad Ahsan, Iraj Rasool and Raj Kumar. Dilip Singh (manager) and Zafar Iqbal (coach).

Sindh Reds: Zain-ul-Abedin (captain), Salar Zaidi, Danish Rathore, Asad Imam, Fazeel Ahmed, Waqar Ahmed, Ahmed Ali, Abbas Rizvi, Hassam Akbar, Kashif Sarwari, Zia Ahmed and Mubashir Qutubuddin. Khurram Rafi (manager) and Arshad Saeed (coach).

Monday’s fixtures: Sindh Greens v Fata (2pm); Sindh Reds v Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (3.30pm); Army v Balochistan (5.30pm); Punjab v Islamabad (7pm).

Back-to-back wins for Marib

KARACHI: Promising Marib Malik won back-to-back matches in two categories of the Modern Club Founder Members National Ranking Tennis Championship at club’s court on Sunday.

First he accounted for Imran Ahmed straight 6-1, 6-2 to advance into men’s singles second round and then disposed of Umair Tariq 6-2, 6-1 to reach under-18 quarters.

Second seed Raza Sawani also made it to the under-18 last eight when he sent Ali Habib packing 6-0, 6-0 in the first round.

Results:

Men’s singles:

Qualifying round one: Jahangir Khalid bt Shoaib Abbas (Khairpur) 6-3, 6-4; Sher Mohammad bt Bilal Ahmed 6-0, 6-0.

Qualifying round two: Jahangir Khalid bt Noman Farid (Hyderabad)—walkover.

First round: Marib Malik bt Imran Ahmed 6-1, 6-2; Abdul Rehman bt M. Bilal Soomro 5-7, 6-1, 6-2; Farhan Mustafa bt Murad Khan 6-3, 6-2.

Juniors under-18 singles:

First round: Mohammad Raza Sawani bt Ali Habib 6-0, 6-0; Marib Malik bt Umair Tariq 6-2, 6-1.

Boys under-16 singles:

First round: Umair Tariq bt Ali Habib—walkover;

Second round: Ebad Sarwar Hussain bt Mujahidullah 6-0, 6-3; Nauman Aftab bt Umair Tariq 6-2, 6-0.

Boys under-14 singles:

First round: Abde Ali bt Mohammad Ali 6-1, 6-1; Abdullah Khan bt M. Ghufran Faiz 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Osama Khan bt M.Abdulah Ahmedani 6-2, 6-2.

Boys under-12 singles:

First round: M.Yousuf Haleem bt Ibad-ur-Rehman 6-0, 6-0; M. Dawood Mustafa bt Anesh Talrega walkover; Abdul Raheem bt M .Ahmed Ahmadani 6-3,6-4.

Monday’s fixtures: Matches starts at 10am.—Sports Correspondent

Tour de Punjab begins

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Six Afghan cyclists were amongst a pack of 72 competitors as the first stage of the Fifth Tour de Punjab International Race began from Chowk Bahadurpur on the national highway here on Sunday.

The six-stage event concludes in Rawalpindi on March 27 with the first stage comprising a 195km ride till Bahawalpur, the organising secretary of the race Idrees Ahmed Khawaja told reporters. “Due to some reasons the Tour de Pakistan was cancelled but plans are afoot to restart it soon,” he said.

Fawad sets Aussie domestic record

HOBART: Pakistan-born refugee Fawad Ahmed has broken a domestic first-class cricket finals record in Australia, taking eight wickets for 89 runs for Victoria state in the Sheffield Shield final against Western Australia.

Western Australia posted 421 before being bowled out midway through day two on Sunday at the Bellerive Oval.

Leg-spinner Fawad, a naturalised Australian who fled Pakistan in 2009 and claimed asylum, bettered the record of 8-101 set by Western Australian left-arm paceman Chris Matthews against Queensland in 1988.—AP

Published in Dawn March 23rd , 2015

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