ISLAMABAD: On the opening day of Serena Hotels Chief of the Air Staff International Squash Champi­onship’s qualification round, promising youngster Ahsan Ayaz caused an upset when he outclassed his compatriot Shahjahan Khan in straight games at the Mushaf Squash Complex here on Wednesday.

Ahsan took only 39 minutes for the 11-6, 11-4, 11-9 victory.

Israr Ahmed defeated Abbas Shaukat 12-10, 6-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-4 in 59 minutes.

In other matches, Syed Ali Bukhari was given a walkover against Asim Khan while Jordan’s Ahmad Al-Saraj defeated Pakistan’s Kashif Asif 13-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8.

Farhan Mehboob, the main hope of Pakistan after Farhan Zaman, also took good start in the championship by defeating his compatriot Bilal Zakir 11-2, 11-2, 11-6 in just 18 minutes.

Pakistan’s Amaad Fareed beat his compatriot Khawaja Adil Maqbool 9-11, 11-8, 8-5 (retd) and Zahir Shah (Pakistan) overcame Mohammad Farhan (Pakistan) 7-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 . Austria’s Aqeel Rehman also moved into the next stage by defeating Pakistan’s Zeeshan Khan 11-9, 12-10, 11-6.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2016