ISLAMABAD: Promising teenager Yaseem Khattak caused a major upset in the second round of Penang Junior Open when the Pakistani defeated fifth seed Veron Hang of Malaysia in the Under-13 event at the Penang Junior Open.
After defeating Hang 11-3, 11-2, 11-3, Yaseem maintained his form to oust another Malaysian, Tho Wei Yen, 11-7,11-7,11-2 in the next round.
Other players from Pakistan also performed brilliantly as Mohammad Ammad, Noor Zaman and Mohammad Hamza won their respective second and third rounds matches in the under-15 competition.
Ammad won his second-round match Hong Kong’s Ho Home Sun 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 before defeating Tho Wei Yen of Malaysia 11-2, 11-8, 12-10.
Noor held off Dhitren Rajarathanim of Malaysia to win 13-15, 11-8, 11-5, 11-13, 11-6 while in third round, he outclassed another Malaysian Chew Yan 11-5-12-10, 14-10.
Earlier, Hamza upstaged compatriot Tayyab Rauf 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 before securing a 113, 11-5, 11-7 victory against Japan’s Yujin Akeda in the third round.
In the under-17 event, Hammad Khan won his second-round fixture against Chew Yu of Malaysia 11-8, 14-12, 11-4 before getting past fifth-seeded Malaysian Clifford Tales 11-8, 14-12, 11-4 in the next round.
Khushal Riaz, meanwhile, lost to fellow Pakistan Rafi Khan 10-12, 11-4, 9-11, 6-11. In the under-19 competition, Zeeshan Zeb registered a 11-7, 11-5, 11-0 win over his second-round opponent Vincent Jones of Malaysia.
Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2018
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