Noor Zaman, Irfan reach Asian Games squash quarter-finals

KARACHI:

 Pakistan’s Noor Zaman and Mohammad Ashab Irfan advanced to the quarter-finals of the men’s singles squash competition at the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya on Thursday with straight-game victories.

Noor defeated Kuwait’s Ammar Altamimi 11-4, 11-9, 11-4 to secure his second successive win and a place in the last eight.

Ashab Irfan also produced a comfortable performance, beating Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Al Nasfan 11-9, 11-3, 11-5.

Both Pakistanis will contest their quarter-finals on Friday.

Pakistan also advanced in the mixed doubles, with Asim Khan and Mehwish Ali recovering from a first-game defeat to beat Japan’s Erisa Sano and Naoki Hayashi 8-11, 11-10, 11-4.

The Pakistani pair will face Hong Kong’s Toby Lam Ye Tsee and Nam Cheuk Lai in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Pakistan’s other mixed doubles pair, Nasir Iqbal and Sehrish Ali, were eliminated after losing 11-2, 11-6 to Hong Kong’s Hong Ming Tong and Ye Ka Lee in the pre-quarter-finals.

Meanwhile Pakistan’s Maria Rind faced early exit in women’s boxing 51kg preliminaries when she went down to Yesugen Oyuntsetseg of Mongolia through RSC in the third round.

This is the second casualty which Pakistan faced after Sumama Rahman lost his first bout the other day.

The Glasgow Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Fatima Zehra will face Mijgoma Samadova of Tajikistan in the 60kg preliminaries on Saturday. Earlier on the same day, in the 90kg preliminaries, Irfan Khan will meet Gichae Kim of South Korea.

Pakistan have fielded two male and the same number of female boxers in the event.

Pakistan have last won a medal in the Asian Games in 2014 when now pro Mohammad Waseem had clinched bronze.