World junior championship: Three Pakistanis enter squash event’s last eight

Tayyab and Asim win in straight games in Netherlands, while Israr won 3-2

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Tayyab Aslam, Asim Khan and Israr Ahmed have qualified for the quarter-finals of the ongoing World Junior Individual Squash Championship in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Israr was involved in a marathon five-setter against Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim Abdallah, which he won 3-2 after a 73-minute struggle.

Read: Tayyab through to last 16 in squash event

He managed to earn only a single point in the first game, but managed to win the next two. Youssef, however, refused to bow down meekly and took the match into the decider. At the end, it was Israr who emerged victorious with a scoreline of 1-11, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4.

Israr had come into the last-16 round after warding off an almost equally tough challenge by England’s Kyle Finch and winning that third-round match 12-10, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9. The youngster will next face a tricky opponent in top seed Diego Elias of Peru.

On the other hand, second-seeded Tayyab made light work of Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue, taking less than 30 minutes to defeat him 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 as he continues his quest for the world junior title.

The current Asian champion was knocked out in the quarter-finals last year and is keen to take home nothing less than the winner’s trophy. He will now lock horns with fifth-seeded Saadeldin Abouaish of Egypt for a place in the semi-finals.

Read: Squash squad to set off for Netherlands

Asim also won in straight games, beating England’s Charlie Lee 11-8, 11-4 and 11-2.  He had earlier won 11-3, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3 against US’ Gabrial Morgan in their third-round match in a 51-minute duel. Next up for Asim is Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng in the quarter-finals.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th,  2015.

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