PESHAWAR
Top seeded and ranked 150 Noor Zaman off to a flying start after recording victory on the opening day against his rival ranked 751 Majid Ahmad Khan in the first round of the COMBAXX Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Satellite Men and Women Squash Championship-2022, which got underway here on Wednesday at Qamar Zaman Squash Complex.
President Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Squash Association Daud Khan was the chief guest on this occasion who formally inaugurated the Championship, the third one of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the first round, Noor Zaman defeated Majid Ahmad Khan by 11-3, 11-5 and 11-5 in a one-sided affair.
The Championship is aimed at providing an opportunity to the Pakistani squash players to improve their ranking through such tournaments and Combaxx came up with sponsoring the Championship. Besides Noor Zaman ranked 150 is the top seeded, the other seeding players including Hamza Sharif ranked 167, Zahir Shah (108), Salam Saleem (211), Waqas Mehboob is (212), Zeeshan Zeb (265), Waqar Mehboob (326), Faroz Mohammad (341) while in the Women Noor Ul Huda is ranked 160 is the top seeded player, followed by Roshna Mehboob (163), Komal Khan (214), Aiman Shahbaz (260), Nimra Aqeel (269), Kainat Amir (276), Nooreena Shams (309), and Hira Aqeel (323) are taking part.
A draw of 32 Men and 32 Women part of the Championship from all across the country. Munawar Zaman is acting as Chief Referee and Chief Organizer for the three-day competitions. In the other matches Huzaifa Shahid defeated Talha Saeed by 11-6, 11-7 and 11-4 in another one-sided match, Muhammad Azlan Khawar defeated Moinuddin by 12-10, 11-9, and 11-2. Faraz Mohammad beat Abdullah Khan by 3-0, Waqar Mehboob beat Anas Khan by 11-7, 11-2 and 11-2, Zeeshan Malik defeated Zoreez Naeem by 11-6, 11-6, 11-7, Uzair Shaukat defeated Mohammad Hekmatyar Khan by 11-4, 11-2 and 11-6, Salman Saleem defeated Noman Khan 11-9, 11-7 and 11-3 and Waqas Mehboob defeated Kaush Farrukh by 11-3, 11-7 and 11-4 and qualified for the second round.
In the first round of the, Noorul Huda, Noorina Shams, Nimrah Aqeel, Hira Aqeel, Kainat Amir, Ayman Shahbaz, Komal Khan and Roshna Mehboob got bye in group while Zohra Abdullah defeated Ronaq Saleem by 11-5, 11-7 and 11-7, Amna Malik defeated Manahel Aqeel by 11-9, 11-7 and 11-8, Mahosh Ali defeated Hafsa Yousaf by 11-2, 11-4 and 11-5.
Talking to media men, Qamar Zaman thanked Combaxx Sports International for extending sponsorship to Pakistan Squash Federation for holding the Stellate Ranking event that largely benefited the Pakistani players to improve the Professional Squash Association ranking at the world level so that they could reach to play good tournaments. Executive Member and Director Blue Tone Squash Academy Wazir Mohammad, Treasurer Sher Bahadur, Former World No. 2 Mohibullah, Combaxx Sports CEO Omar Saeed, Director Arif Ali were also present.
Addressing the inaugural function, Daud Khan said that he paid tribute to the parents for sending their children to play and said that the aim of the tournament and squash association was to find new talent so that new players would emerge who would be provided training and guidance.
He said that a strategy has been formulated with the education department for training and coaching the children at an early age and preparing players at the basic level. Talent will be sought at the school level. Daud Khan, who is also Secretary Higher Education, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that the education department has issued instructions to the district offices in this regard.
The players who will perform well at the school level will be brought forward by coaching and training and scholarships and equipment will also be provided to these players, he added. He said that children are the main source and that is why the Association is focusing on holding many age group events at grassroots level. He said, there is no shortcut to reach the top.
