Abbas upsets Jordan’s Al-Saraj

Pakistan squash player triumphs 3-2 at qualifying round of CAS event


Our Correspondent October 18, 2014

KARACHI: Youngster Abbas Shoukat produced the biggest upset in the qualifying round of the Serena Hotels Chief of Air Staff International Squash Championship by beating Jordan’s Ahmad Al-Saraj in five games at the Mushaf Squash Complex in Islamabad on Saturday.

Abbas, who had been training hard with head coach Jamshed Gul for the past four months during their preparatory camp, was paid for his efforts as he won with scores of 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 4-11 and 13-11 in 62 minutes.

His victory delighted Gul, who remained seated on the sidelines throughout the match and guided him.

“I’m really pleased that Abbas finally put up a good performance and defeated Al-Saraj,” Gul told The Express Tribune.

“It’s always nice to see young players doing well and working hard on their form. Abbas was very good with his execution; all I could do from the outside was advise him. In my view, Al-Saraj was pretty patchy in his play.”

Meanwhile, senior player Mansoor Zaman had an easy outing against Israr Ahmed, winning 3-1, while Sheikh Saqib Yousuf triumphed in similar fashion against Bilal Zakir.

In another upset of the day, Zahir Shah thrashed in-form Ali Bokhari in straight games by 11-3, 11-4 and 11-7.

Elswhere, Ammad Fareed came back from a game down to win 3-1 against Raees Khan and Amir Malik beat Haseeb Gul 3-0.

Farhan Mehboob’s younger sibling Waqas beat Asim Khan 8-11, 11-4, 11-7 and 11-7, while Shahjahan Khan won 3-0 against Ismail Rauf.


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