Tayyab stuns third-seed Aqeel

Youngster wins 3-2 in Wah Cantt squash tournament.

KARACHI: The PSF-POF International Squash Circuit-II Tournament of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) saw a major upset yesterday as Tayyab Aslam, ranked 192, stunned third-seed Austrian Aqeel Rehman to win 3-2 at the Jahangir Khan Squash Complex in Wah Cantt.

Tayyab was 2-1 down at one stage, but made a strong comeback to win after a gruelling 74 minutes of play with scores of 10-12, 11-5, 2-11, 12-10 and 13-11.

National coach Jamshed Gul lauded the performance of Tayyab for defeating a player ranked 111 places higher than him.



“It’s an impressive performance by Tayyab because Aqeel trains with top players in London regularly,” Gul told The Express Tribune. “Such performances really satisfy me. Our efforts are reflected in the results of players.”

In other matches, Farhan Zaman, who did well in the recently concluded World Team Championship, defeated second-seed Yasir Butt 3-2 in another upset.

Top-seed Nasir Iqbal survived an early scare in the event as he managed to fend off a challenge from Waqas Mehboob to win 3-2 despite trailing initially. Nasir won with scores of 6-11, 14-12, 9-11, 11-7 and 11-6 in an hour.

Elsewhere, Farhan Mehboob thrashed Bilal Zakir in straight games, while a similar triumph was registered by Khawaja Adil Maqool as he thrashed qualifier Owais Khan in just 18 minutes.

Fourth-seed Danish Atlas Khan won 3-0 against Amaad Fareed, while Sheikh Saqib defeated Shoaib Hassan with the same score.

Mansoor Zaman had little trouble in beating Ali Bokhari by 11-2, 9-11, 11-3 and 11-6.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2013.

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