Asim beat home hero Tayyab 3-2 as Farhan overcome Ammad in Pakistan International Squash Tournament semis
In upset victories, third seed Asim Khan defeated top seed Tayyab Aslam and promising junior player Amna Fayyaz outclassed seasoned Maria Toorpakai Wazir in the semi-finals of Pakistan International Squash Tournament here at the Mushaf Squash Complex, Islamabad.
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In upset victories, third seed Asim Khan defeated top seed Tayyab Aslam and promising junior player Amna Fayyaz outclassed seasoned Maria Toorpakai Wazir in the semi-finals of Pakistan International Squash Tournament here at the Mushaf Squash Complex, Islamabad.
In the first men's semifinal, it was expected to be one-sided affair, as hot favourite Tayyab was up against inconsistent Asim, who has reputation of throwing away matches due to his non-serious and childish attitude, but to utter surprise, Asim recorded another surprising triumph against the top seed.
In the first game, Tayyab stamped his authority and put Asim under enormous pressure, which helped the top seed take the first game 11-6. Tayyab continued his dominance in the second game as well as he played superbly and won the game 11-3. After such a power show, it was being expected that Tayyab will simply outclass Asim to register victory and book final berth but the casual approach of Tayyab cost him dearly and helped Asim make a good comeback and win the third game 11-9.
The fourth game was identical to the third one as Tayab once again took commanding lead and then allowed Asim to stage another comeback, who played superbly and went on to take the fourth set 11-9 to square the things at 2-2. In the fifth and decisive game, both the players displayed top class squash and gave each other tough time.
Asim matched fire with fire and answered all the shots thrown at him very well. He was playing like a true champion while Tayyab was looking surprised as well as frustrated because he was not expecting such a display of powerful shots from his opponent. Asim gradually built up the lead and after few anxious moments and surviving barrage of attacks, he took the fifth game 11-8, thus won the marathon encounter of 86 minutes 3-2.
In the second semifinal, Farhan Mehboob outsmarted Ammad Fareed 3-0 in just 18 minutes. Ammad, who was fresh with USA experience as he recently returned from there, couldn’t handle the opponent’s shots and lost the first game 7-11. Mehboob continued attacking shots in the second game to win it 11-5.
The third game was an exhibition of class and quality as Mehboob was trying to finish the encounter, while Ammad was fighting for his survival in the match. It was a close affair as the game kept on swinging form one way to another. Mehboob then utilized his experience and skills and played some brilliant drop shots to win the third set 11-9, thus breezed into the final where he will vie against Asim today (Friday).
In the women’s event, 17-year-old Amna stunned Maria 11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 11-5, 12-10 in a 34-minute clash and will contest Moqaddas Ashraf, a 14-16, 11-4, 15-13, 11-2 winner over Saima Shaukat, for the title.
