Egypt’s Youssef outplays Asim in FMC Int’l Squash

Asher Butt

LAHORE: Asim Khan of Pakistan lost his quarterfinal of the FMC International Challenge Squash in straight games here on Wednesday. Seventh seed Asim lost to tournament number one Egypt’s Youssef Soliman 3-2 after nearly coming close to victory.

In a tit for tat match, whenever Asim moved ahead, Youssef came back in the game and same was the case in Asim’s case. But ultimately Youssef’s international experience prevailed. Both the players were even two-all games when Youssef claimed the final and fifth game and the match.

With his 11-13, 11-7, 7-11, 11-2 and 12-10 win over Asim, Youssef was the first to reach the semifinals of the tournament. Farhan Mahboob of Pakistan will face Mazel Gamal of Egypt in the second quarterfinal while Tayyab Aslam will meet Auguste Dussourd of France in the third quarterfinal and Israr Ahmed of Pakistan will take on Ivan Yuen of Malaysia to complete the last match of last eight encounters.

International squash in glass-walled court returned to the city after a gap of 16 years as the Punjab Squash Association is holding the FMC International Squash Championship here at a local hotel.

Giving details of the championship, secretary Punjab squash Sheraz Saleem informed that in the next round girls will also be playing alongside boys event. MD FMC Farooq Shahid, which are the main sponsors of the event, PSA vice president Tahir Khanzada, treasurer Pakistan squash Squadron Leader Mohamamd Waqas, Punjab treasurer Tariq Saddique, Tariq Farooq, Arshabi Anjum and international players from England, Egypt and Hong Kong were also present in the briefing. English player Robert Downer said that there are no security issues in Pakistan while Hong Kong player praised the arrangements of the event.