PESHAWAR, Feb 21 (APP):Top seeded and international Muhammad Hamza of PAF, second seed Muhammad Ammad, Mutahir Ali and Huzaifa Zahid of Punjab took berth into the semi-finals after recording victories in the quarter-finals of the National Junior Under-15 Squash Championship being played here at PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex on Thursday.
In the first quarter-final Muhammad Hamza of PAF faced tough resistance at the hands of Ashab Irfan of Punjab in the marathon four sets battle. The match was started on fast tempo and Hamza took the first set by 11-8 before leveling it at 5-5, 6-6 and 8-all. It was the second set in which Ashab Irfan of Punjab staged a comeback and tied the tally 1-1 when he got the set 9-11. The set was tied at 4-4, 6-6, 7-7 and 9-all before Ashab Irfan got the set.
In the third set when both tied the tally 1-1, Hamza did not look behind and marched into victory after winning the third and fourth sets by 11-6 and 11-5. In the second quarter-final Muhammad Ammad, the second seed defeated Abdullah, hailing from Abbottabad in straight sets, the score was 11-5, 11-6 and 12-10. Abdullah played well, specially in the third set where both stretched to 12-10 before Ammad saved a set point at 10-10.
In the third quarter-final Mutahir Ali defeated Usman Butt of Punjab by 3-0, the score was 11-5, 11-6 and 11-6. Mutahir Ali faced no resistance against Usman Butt and marched into victory in straight sets. In the last quarter-final Huzaifa Zahid of Punjab defeated Junaid Khan of Punjab by 3-0 in another one-sided match, the score was 11-9, 11-5 and 11-9. Both Junaid Khan and Huzaifa Zahid played well but overall Huzaifa Zahid dominated the proceedings.
The semi-finals and final will be played on Friday. Director General Sports KP Junaid Khan will grace the occasion as chief guest.
