Hamza storms into semis as Noor crashes out

ISLAMABAD: Top seed Hamza Khan, who is one of the favourites for the title, marched into the semi-finals of the World Junior Squash with a hard fought five-game win against Mohammed Nasser of Egypt in Nancy (France) Sunday.

Following some anxious moments in between, Hamza defeated Nasser 11-3, 5-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7 in a quarter-final that stayed in progress for over one hour.

It was all going well for Hamza when he was 7-2 up in the third game after winning the first and losing the second.

Some unforced errors and hasty moves cost him the advantage as he went on to lose the third to go 1-2 down.

Hamza, however, recovered to take the fourth rather easily. The top seed showed his best moves in the fourth to leave the Egyptian struggling for points.

When the competition got hot in the fifth game, the chair referee warned Hamza’s coaches against shouting during the course of the game and gave him a conduct warning.

Hamza raced to an 8-3 lead in the deciding game. Yet again he was seen making hasty moves in an attempt to finish of the match and lost three points in a hurry two of these while conceding a stroke to the opponent on blocking his way.

However, he earned a stroke against the Egyptian at 10-7 to take the match and a place in the semi-finals.

England’s ¾ seed Finlay Withington got the better of his teammate Sam Osborne-Wylde 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10 to book a place in the semi-finals against Hamza.

The semi-finals will be played today (Monday).

Earlier, on Saturday evening local lad Brice Nicolas (France) upset Asian Champion Noor Zaman 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4. Noor failed to make most of the recovery he had shown in the second and was seen losing rather meekly.