Farhan beaten by brother Waqas in Pakistan Int’l Squash

ISLAMABAD: Waqas Mehboob Tuesday exposed form and fitness of his elder brother Farhan Mehboob with straight games victory in an interesting match of the $12,000 Pakistan International Squash Tournament underway here at the Mushaf Squash Complex.

Waqas won 11-8, 11-9, 11-7. The struggling former world No 14 was beaten in just 24 minutes and the defeat exposed talented player’s lack of interest in the game. Farhan never took the match seriously and was trying to hit one after another winner instead of getting his opponent engaged in long rallies.

In the second round, Waqas was lucky to meet an opponent who neither looked fit nor in form to play the tough match.

On Tuesday, Farhan was just going through his motion and trying to complete the formality rather getting serious to make the best use of the opportunity coming his way. Farhan’s defeat against a mediocre player was a surprise for everyone.

Top seed Tayyab Aslam, however, was seen prevailing against up and coming Noor Zaman in straight games 11-1, 11-9, 11-9.

Noor showed glimpses of quality squash in the second and third games where he stretched Tayyab to the limit. But ultimately Tayyab reached the quarter-finals following 25 minutes of his efforts.

Tayyab will now take on Muhammad Farhan Hashmi, who upset eighth seed Zahir Shah 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 in just 23 minutes. Farhan played a brave game and never allowed his opponent to even make a match of it.

Another quarter-final today (Wednesday) will see second seed Asem Khan playing against Nasir Iqbal as both the players made it to the last eight stage with easy straight games’ wins against their opponents. After winning the first game easily, Danish Atlas Khan played well in the second but could not hold on to his good work ultimately losing in straight games 11-2, 12-10, 11-5 to Nasir. Asim Khan got the better of Zeeshan Zeb 11-7, 11-7, 11-7.