RESULTS: PSA Challenger 15 CAS International, Peshawar,
Pakistan
Farhan
Despatches Danish For CAS Crown
Pakistan's Farhan Zaman pulled off his second national upset
in two days when he beat third seed Danish Atlas Khan in the
final of the CAS International Squash Championship to win the
long-established PSA World Tour Challenger 15 event at the
PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex in Peshawar.
Zaman reached the final after overcoming top seed Nasir Iqbal
in the previous round.
The 20-year-old fourth seed from Peshawar was the underdog going
into the final - having met the higher-ranked 19-year-old Khan twice
before on the Tour, on both occasions losing in five games.
And Danish carried on where he left off, taking an early lead after
surviving a tie-break opening game.
But Zaman struck back, winning the next three games in succession to
secure his title-winning 10-12, 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 victory in 60
minutes.
The triumph marks the second Tour title of Zaman's career - but his
first on home soil!
Danish
Deals Out Brotherly Breakthrough
It
was a case of fifth time lucky for Pakistan's Danish Atlas Khan
in today's semi-finals of the CAS International Squash
Championship when the teenager finally recorded his first ever
PSA World Tour win over his older brother Aamir Atlas Khan
to earn a surprise place in the final of the long-established PSA
Challenger 15 event at the PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex
in their home city of Peshawar.
It
was more than three years ago in Islamabad that the now 19-year-old
Danish first faced Aamir, then ranked just outside the world top 20,
in the PSF-CAA International Pakistan Circuit No2 - an event
which Atlas Khan senior went on to win.
Further Tour meetings in Pakistan and Iran failed to change the
status quo until this meeting on hometown soil - where third seed
Danish recovered from the loss of the second game to beat his
23-year-old second-seeded sibling 11-1, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9.
It
was defending champion Aamir Atlas Khan's first defeat in the
event since 2006 - since when he has built up a 14-match winning
streak, which included three titles.
There was also a shock in the other semi-final when fourth seed
Farhan Zaman beat event favourite Nasir Iqbal, the
Pakistan number one from Bannu, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5, 7-11, 11-6, to
reach the fifth Tour final of his career.
Danish Atlas Khan
goes into his seventh career PSA Tour final boasting a 2/0 career
head-to-head record over Zaman, who also hails from Peshawar.
Atlas
Khans In CAS Final Bid
Peshawar
brothers Danish Atlas Khan and Aamir Atlas Khan will
meet for a place in the final of the CAS International Squash
Championship in their home city in Pakistan after surviving
today's quarter-finals of the long-established PSA World Tour
Challenger 15 event at the PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex.
Second seed Aamir, the defending champion, needed only four games to
see off qualifier Nosherwan Khan 11-7, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9.
But his younger brother Danish was taken the full distance before
finally overcoming former champion Mansoor Zaman, also from
Peshawar and also a qualifier, 13-11, 8-11, 7-11, 11-1, 12-10.
Top seed Nasir Iqbal was also stretched to the limit before
getting the better of fellow Pakistani Muhammad Saqib Yousaf
12-14, 11-4, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8.
The 19-year-old world No49 will now face fourth seed Farhan Zaman
who made the last four after his namesake Farhan Mehboob
retired injured after just two games, the score standing at 11-6,
12-10.
Qualifiers Zaman & Khan Progress In Peshawar
Qualifiers Mansoor Zaman and Nosherwan Khan progressed
to the quarter-finals of the CAS International against
expectations after upsets in today's opening round of the
long-established PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at
the PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex in Peshawar,
Pakistan.
Peshawar-based Mansoor Zaman, the 33-year-old former world
No11, rolled back the years to see off 17-year-old fellow Pakistani
Syed Ali Mujtaba Shah Bokhari 11-8, 11-6, 11-8.
Making his 14th successive appearance in the Tour event - and a
finalist on six occasions - 2001 champion Zaman will now face
Danish Atlas Khan, the No3 seed who beat wild card Owais Khan
13-15, 3-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5.
Nosherwan Khan,
a 19-year-old also playing in his home town, defeated German-based
fellow countryman Karamatullah Khan 11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9.
The teenager, boasting a career-high world No 174 ranking, now faces
Danish's older brother Aamir Atlas Khan, the No2 seed and
three-time champion from Peshawar.
Austrian Aqeel Rehman, the highest-ranked unseeded player
bidding to become the only non-Pakistani to make the last eight,
went down 11-7, 12-10, 4-11, 12-10 to local boy Farhan Mehboob,
the 24-year-old former world No16.
