Pakistan players crash out of British Junior Open

KARACHI: The abundance of resources and facilities extended to junior players by Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) went in vain as not a single player was able to reach the quarter-finals of the British Junior Open in Sheffield.

Israr Ahmad, who recently won US Junior Open and was expected to reach the quarter-finals, was stunned by Kyle Finch of England 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 0-11 in 44 minutes in the pre-quarterfinals of under-19 category on Monday.

In the third round of the under-17 category, Oan Abbas was thrashed by Samuel Scherl of US 1-11, 3-11, 3-11 in just 27 minutes and Abdul Malik was smashed by Ziad Sakr of Egypt 3-11, 4-11, 2-11 in just 18 minutes.

Mansoor Zaman and Mehran Javed were defeated by their opponents in the first round of under-17 category on the first day of this event. Ibtisam Riaz also faced first round exit in the under-13 category.

Pakistan’s six junior players played this championship in which over 400 competitors from more than 30 nations are participating.