Noor Zaman Off To Flying Start In KP Satellite Men & Women Squash Championship 2022

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

PESHAWAR, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Mar, 2022 ) :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.

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 was 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, the other seeding players include 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) were taking part.

A draw of 32 Men and 32 Women were part of the championship from all across the country.

Munawar Zaman was acting as chief referee and chief organizer for the three-day competitions.

In 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, 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.

Addressing the inaugural function, Daud Khan 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 and added talent will be sought at the school level.

Daud Khan, who is also Secretary Higher Education, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that the education department had 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 were the main source and that was why the Association was focusing on holding many age group events at grassroots level. He said, there was no shortcut to reach the top.

Talking to reporters, Qamar Zaman thanked Combaxx Sports International for extending sponsorship to Pakistan Squash Federation for holding the Satellite Ranking event that largely benefited the Pakistani players to improve the Professional Squash Association ranking at the world level to play good tournaments.