7th DG Rangers Open: Nasir Iqbal, Samar top seeds in squash event

Tariq defeats Ali Nasir 3-1 in qualifying round.

KARACHI: Top-ranked Pakistan Squash Association player Nasir Iqbal is the men’s top seed for the 7th DG Rangers Open Squash Championship, being played at the Sindh Rangers Jahangir Khan Squash Complex. Samar Anjum leads the seeding in the women’s category.

Nasir is followed by Amir Atlas Khan, Danish Atlas Khan, Farhan Zaman, Farhan Mehboob, Sheikh Saqib, Tayyab Aslam and Ali Bokhari.



In the women’s draw Zoya Khalid is seeded second behind Samar followed by Muqaddas Ashraf, Rushna Mehboob, Saima Shaukat, Riffat Khan, Amna Latif and Aliya Sarfraz.

The tournament was officially opened yesterday, where former world champion Jahangir Khan was the guest of honour.

The first day saw players fight it out in the qualifying rounds, that were held to secure a spot into the main round.

Tariq Khan defeated Ali Nasir 3-1 despite being 1-0 down, and won with game scores of 6-11, 11-2, 11-6 and 11-9.

Sindh’s Nouman Khan and Faizan Khan were involved in a tense five-setter, but in the end Nouman prevailed with scores of 8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 9-11 and 11-8. Among other results, Asim Khan won 3-0 against Abdul Basit while Saddamul Haq and Israr Ahmed won with a similar scoreline against Adil Faqeer and Ahmed Amin respectively.

Sindh Squash Association (SSA) Secretary Amir Khan confirmed that all the top players were participating except for Waqar Mehboob.

“All the top players are going to be participating to go head to head for the title,” Amir told The Express Tribune.

“Only Mehboob is missing and hopefully we’ll see good competition. In the women’s category as well, all the best available talent is present except Zahab Khan.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2013.

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