Pakistan’s Saleem Abbas and Asim Qureshi crashed out of the World Table Tennis Championship 2011 second qualifying round for the men’s singles matches in Rotterdam, Netherlands. However, Asim Qureshi and Shabnam Bilal progressed into the main round of the mixed doubles yesterday.
Abbas lost to Slovakia’s Juskovic 4-2 as he conceded the opening two sets 11-8, 11-9 but replied to the Slovakian in the following sets 12-10, 11-9 to level the match. However, Juskovic sealed the victory after clinching the following two sets 11-7, 11-8. Asim Qureshi also stumbled against Dominican Republic’s Manuel Espinal 4-2 in the qualifiers.
Shabman Bilal failed to qualify for the main round as she lost her group matches against Cyprus’s Ana Mikova 4-0 and Frances’s Aurore Dessaint 4-0. Even though both Pakistanis are out of the single’s event, there is still hope for them to make their mark in the mixed doubles fixture.
“You can’t expect us to win the matches when we participate in only one international tournament every year,” Abbas told The Express Tribune. “There are more than 2000 athletes participating from all over the world. The Pakistan Table Tennis Federation should understand that we need to play in international events.”
Abbas urged that the team was suffering because they did not have a coach. “The players can’t show up at the world championship and win without a coach,”he added.
Meanwhile, Qureshi and Bilal defeated Sudan’s Mozaml Suliman and Eilaf Al Khatib 2-11, 3-11, 3-11 in the mixed doubles round of 128. National champion Ali Faisal and Aisha Ansari avenged their early elimination from the singles event as they defeated New Zeeland’s John Cordue and Sarah Her-Lee 11-7, 11-8, 11-4.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2011.
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