Mehboob, Saqib crash out in Kuwait

Zaman, Danish, Maqbool progress to squash tournament quarters.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s preparation for the World Team Championship got off on a disastrous note when three of the four players in the squad for the mega event crashed out of different Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournaments.

Farhan Mehboob and Sheikh Saqib suffered exits at the PSA Martyr Fahad al Ahmad Squash Tournament, while Nasir Iqbal went down in the first round of the Hong Kong International Squash Open. Mehboob lost to Kuwait’s Ammar Altamimi 3-1 in the first round. Saqib suffered a 3-1 defeat to Ali Bader al Ramzi of Kuwait.

In the other PSA event, Iqbal went down to Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad 3-1.

However, Pakistan’s trio of Farhan Zaman, Danish Atlas and Khawaja Adil Maqbool registered victories to move into the quarter-finals at the Martyr Fahad al Ahmad Squash Tournament. Zaman won 3-0 against France’s Geoffrey Demont, and Danish won by a similar scoreline against Kuwait’s Yousif Nizar Saleh. Adil won 3-1 against al Ramzi.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2013.