Mehwish Ali, Waheeha, Sunzil, Hifa Khan and Ronaq Saleem advanced to next round after recording victories in the first round of the Khyber Pakthunkhwa Girls Open Squash Championship, which got underway here at Qamar Zaman Squash Complex on Monday.
Former Nazim Nawa Khali Sajjad Khan was the chief guest on this occasion. Former World Champion Qamar Zaman, District Sports Officer Tehsin Ullah, Member Executive Committee Wazir Gul, Sher Bahadar, Chief coach Shafqat UIlah, coaches Munawar Zaman, Alamzeb, Niamat Ullah, officials, players were also present.
National U19 Champion Komal Khan from Wapda is the top seed while Nimra Aqeel, hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the second seeded player in the Championship. Kulsoom Abdul, Hira Aqeel, Kaiynat, Mehwish Ali, Sana Bahadur are the other seeded players.
In the first match Wajeeha Altaf recorded victory over Zarlish Safdar in a thrilling three sets battle, the score was 12-10, 11-9 and 11-6. Both Wajeeha and Zarlish played excellently with some good shots. Wajeeha Altaf faced tough times against Zarlish in the 29-minute battle and played well.
In the other matches Ayesha Alam defeated Bilqis Gulab by 3-0, the score was 11-8, 11-9 and 11-9.
Mehwish Ali recorded victory against Maryam Zahra in a one-sided affair, the score was 11-9, 11-7 and 11-9. Mehwish Ali who recently won the trial final held in a joint venture between Directorate of Sports KP and Bank of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for a paid coaching and training, defeated Maryum Zahra by 3-0.
Hifsa Yousaf beat Mahnoor Ali by 3-0, in another match of the first round, the score was 11-7, 11-9 and 11-7. In the last match Ronaq Saleem defeated Sehrish Ali by 3-0, the score was 12-10, 12-10 and 13-11. Ronaq Saleem, a promising player, faced tough resistance against Sehrish Ali in a marathon three sets. Ronaq was far behind in the first set led by Sehrish Ali but she staged a strong comeback and succeeded in toppling Sehrish first at 12-10, second at 12-10 and in the third set both the players stretched to 13-11.
The match produced great thrills and former World Champion Qamar Zaman also appreciated both Ronaq Saleem and Sehrish Ali for the excellent display.
Talking to media men, Qamar Zaman termed competitive exposure vital for the players. He said KP Squash Association is thankful of the Directorate of Sports KP for extended support to the Association. He said it is the first Championship after a break of one and half year due to coronavirus and now they would try to have more tournaments soon after improving the situation.
He said girls squash is improving in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and now we have talented players like Komal Khan, Nimra Aqeel, Maira Hussain, Mehvish, Zarlish, Hira Aqeel, Manahil, Kulsoom, Zohra, Kaiynat Khan etc who are playing at the national and international level and soon our players from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be in top ranking at national level.
Qamar Zaman said that Komal is the current national U19 Champion and before she also got the honor of winning National U15, Under-17 titles as well. Nimra, Hira, Maira Hussain are playing tournaments at national and international levels and they have great potential to come up and represent Pakistan.
Qamar said that the Association is treating both female and male players equally and that is why 6 to 8 female tournaments are part of the Annual Games calendar. He said the Association won the President Trophy of the Pakistan Squash Federation three times consecutively because of holding more than 25 tournaments a year, putting more focus on girls and different age group categories in order to promote squash at grassroots level.
