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Dubai: Sixteen-year-old Ahmad Farooq of ADCO defeated Ahmad Dada in the Division One semifinal of the Dunlop-backed UAE National Men's PSA Challenger Series No 1 at the Lifestyle Health Club, City Centre Hotel and Residence.
Ahmad was very confident playing in his first senior tournament away from home in Abu Dhabi and fought till the very end to defeat Ahmad in three closely contested games. Ahmad won 11-10(1-0), 11-8, 11-7.
In the other semifinal, Usman Basarat came back from two games down to beat Gavin Pinnington in five with a score of 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-2.
Super Division
In the Sri Lankan Airlines backed Super Division, 19-year-old Preston University student Khawaja Adil Maqbool, the UAE men's Number one since 2001, got past Pakistan's Asif Khan in four games winning 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-9. Winning the final tomorrow will give Adil a record 29th national title win.
In the other semifinal, Saqib Rafi upset second seed Aamir Khan in four games winning 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-10(4-2). The match consisted of long and patient rallies, with Saqib winning at the end with a mistake from Aamir Khan.
Top seed Hesham Badr easily got past Elsharief Hassan 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 and Mohammad Bhatti ended the run of the talented 11-year-old Sandeep Ramanchadran, winning in an epic five setter 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8.
The chairman of UAE Squash Racquet Association, Andy Stains, said on this particular PSA event: "Great to see a good level of squash is played by a good mix of nationalities. And as chairman of UAE SRA we are very pleased to have this tournament played here."
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