Pakistan International Squash: Farhan Mehboob, Tayyab Aslam reach semis

ISLAMABAD: Top Pakistani players made their presence felt in the Serena Hotels-Huawei Pakistan International Squash Tournament men’s semi-finals, setting up dates with foreign players following quarter-final action here at the Mushaf Ali Mir Complex on Tuesday.

Farhan Mehboob and Tayyab Aslam both made short work of their opponents in one-sided quarter-finals. Against all expectations, Mehboob did not allow his opponent Zaman to play a long and calculated game, cutting him to size in the 11-2, 4-11, 11-5, 11-3 win.

The pace of the game was so fast that Zaman was unable to stop Mehboob from playing shots of his liking. Backhand dip shots, trickle boost and squeeze boost were on display during Mehboob’s exhibition of squash which had no answer from his opponent.

Except from the second game where Mehboob was seen playing some reckless shots, he totally dominated his quarter-final against Zaman.

“Zaman played the game of my liking. Though I was prepared for lengthy game, Zaman decided to make it short and I was happy with that. The fast pace game allowed me to play shots of my liking which I did,” Mehboob said.

Mehboob was so dominating that he allowed just three points to Zaman in the last game. “Zaman tried to be too aggressive. Such aggression always suits my game. Same has happened here,” Mehboob said.

Farhan Mehboob now has a tough task ahead in the semi-final where he will meet top seed Youssef Ibrahim of Egypt. The Egyptian world No 43 was lucky to have beaten local lad Asim Khan.

Except for stamina, Asim had all the ingredients to beat the Egyptian but never looked in a mood to surprise his superior opponent. Youssef ultimately defeated Asim 13-11, 11-13, 11-5, 11-9 in an interesting quarter-final that lasted for 44 minutes.

Asim had his chances in the match but was unable to convert these into victory.

The second semi-final will see the South Asian Games gold medallist Tayyab Aslam taking on Egypt’s Mohamed El-Sherbini who defeated Rui Soares (Portugal) 11-7, 11-9, 11-7 in the last quarter-final of the day.

Tayyab was too dominant against Egyptian junior player Yahya Elnawasany during his 20 minutes rout 11-2, 11-8, 11-3.

In the women’s $12,000 event that is also underway on the sidelines of the men’s tournament, Egyptian Hana Moataz, Farida Mohamed, Meena Hamed and USA girl Sabrina Sobhy making it to the semi-finals.

Results: Men’s quarter-finals: Youssef Ibrahim (Egypt) bt Muhammad Asim Khan (Pakistan) 13-11, 11-13, 11-5,11-8; Farhan Mehboob (Pakistan) bt Farhan Zaman (Pakistan) 11-2, 4-11, 11-5, 11-3; Tayyab Aslam (Pakistan) bt Yahya Elnawasany (Egypt) 11-2, 11-8, 11-3; Mohamed El-Sherbini (Egypt) bt Rui Soares (Portugal) 11-7, 11-9, 11-7.

Women’s quarter-finals: Hana Moataz (Egypt) bt Farah Momen (Egypt) 11-7, 11-8, 11-7; Farida Mohamed (Egypt) bt Waen Li Lai (Malaysia) 11-6, 10-12, 7-11, 15-13, 11-8; Meena Hamed (Egypt) bt Cindy Merlo (Switzerland) 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9; Sabrina Sobhy (USA) bt Nadia Pfister (Switzerland) 11-4, 11-7, 11-2.