KARACHI: Unseeded Fehmina Asim pulled off a major upset when she humbled third seed Noureena Shams to book a place in the quarter-finals of the $15,000 12th DG Rangers Sindh National Squash Championship at the Sindh Rangers Jahangir Khan Squash Complex on Wednesday.

Representing Sindh, Karachi-based Fehmina won her second round match against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s opponent with ease by 11-1, 11-3, 11-2 in a short span of just 11-minutes.

It is pertinent to mention that fourth seed Zoya Khalid could not make it to the event due to a death in her family. Her first round opponent Alisha Ibad, who got a walkover, made exit after losing to Rushana Mehboob 0-11, 2-11, 2-11.

The other players, as expected, cruised into the women’s last eight.

Top seed Riffat Khan struggled to beat Nimra Aqeel 11-2, 11-9, 11-9. Second seed Anam Aziz whip Meyral Aziz 11-4, 11-7, 11-4. Fifth seed Saima Shoukat, sixth seed Moqaddas Ashraf, seventh seed Noor-ul-Huda and eighth seed Komal Khan conjured up victories.

Contrary to women’s event, all top eight men’s seeds stormed into the quarter-finals.

Top seed Tayyab Aslam thumped Bilal Zakir 11-2, 11-2, 11-8 while Asim Khan came back from a game down to inflict 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 defeat on fighting Zeeshan Zeb.

Third seed Ahsan Ayaz and fourth seed Israr Ahmed won their matches straight against Waqar Mehboob and M. Farhan respectively.

The top quartet was joined by Ammad Fareed, Syed Ali Bokhari, Zahir Shah and Abdul Malik.

Results:

Second round:

Men’s: Tayyab Aslam (SNGPL) bt Bilal Zakir (Army) 11-2, 11-2, 11-8; Syed Ali Bukhari (Railways) bt Noman Khan (Sindh) 11-8, 11-13, 11-7, 11-7; Abdul Malik (Baluchistan) bt Saad Abdullah (Sindh) 7-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6; Ahsan Ayaz (PIA) bt Waqar Mehboob (ZTBL) 11-8, 11-5, 13-11; Israr Ahmed (SNGPL) bt M. Farhan (SNGPL) 11-6, 11-6, 11-4; Zahir Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Salman Saleem (Railways) 11-4, 11-4, 11-7; Ammad Fareed (SNGPL) bt M. Uzair Rasheed (Punjab) 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4; Asim Khan (SNGPL) bt Zeeshan Zeb (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9.

Second round:

Women’s: Riffat Khan (WAPDA) bt Nimra Aqeel (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 11-2, 11-9, 11-9; Komal Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Ilsa Imran (Sindh) 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-4; Noor-ul-Huda (SNGPL) bt Noor-ul-Ain Ejaz (SNGPL) 11-8, 11-6, 17-15; Rushana Mehboob (ZTBL) bt Alisha Ibad (Sindh) 11-0, 11-2, 11-2; Fehmina Asim (Sindh) bt Noureena Shams (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 11-1, 11-3, 11-2; Saima Shoukat (Wapda bt Zainab Khan (Sindh) 11-8, 11-7, 11-4; Moqaddas Ashraf (WAPDA) bt Aiman Shahbaz (SNGPL) 11-3, 11-6, 11-6; Anam Aziz (Sindh) bt Meyral Shaikh (Sindh) 11-4, 11-7, 11-4.

Thursday’s fixtures:

Quarter-finals:

Men’s: Tayyab Aslam (SNGPL) vs Syed Ali Bukhari (Railways); Abdul Malik (Baluchistan) vs Ahsan Ayaz (PIA); Israr Ahmed (SNGPL) vs Zahir Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) ; Asim Khan (SNGPL) vs Ammad Fareed (SNGPL).

Women’s: Riffat Khan (WAPDA) vs Komal Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Noor-ul-Huda (SNGPL) vs Rushana Mehboob (ZTBL); Saima Shoukat (Wapda) vs Fehmina Asim (Sindh); Anam Aziz (Sindh) vs Moqaddas Ashraf (WAPDA).

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2018