Aamir through to squash event semis

Top seed survives scare, to face brother Danish.

KARACHI:

Top-seed Aamir Atlas overcame stiff resistance from Hamzah Bukhari to eventually seal a tense 3-2 win in their 2nd FMC Pakistan International Squash event quarter-final in Lahore.

Aamir, who was on the backfoot from the start, went down in the first game 11-5 but fought back to seal the next two 11-9, 11-6. Bukhari hit back in the next game 11-9 but Aamir sealed the win with a score of 11-2 in the decider to set up a semi-final with brother Danish.

Danish had an easy sailing against Saqib Yousuf, winning 3-1. Saqib playing on his home turf could not stand a challenge as Danish won 11-1, 11-3, 11-13 and 11-3 in just under an hour. Farhan Zaman sent New Zealand’s Kashif Shuja packing despite being 2-1 down at one stage. Farhan came out on top after a 64-minute battle with scores of 11-9, 7-11, 7-11, 11-7 and 11-5 to set up a last-four encounter with Aqib Hanif, who got the better of Owais Khan 3-1.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2012.