Al Hussaini Flies Local Flag In Kuwait

Bader Al Hussaini battled for 52 minutes in the first round of the KNPC Kuwait Championship to ensure local interest in the last eight of the One Star PSA Tour event in Kuwait.

The 22-year-old from Kuwait City, seeded seven, beat Welsh qualifier Rob Sutherland 5-11, 11-4, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8 and will now take on Egypt's third seed Amr Mansi for a place in the semi-finals.

Unseeded Frenchman Julien Balbo scored the only upset of the day when he beat Hungary's fifth seed Mark Krajcsak 11-8, 11-10 (2-0), 11-7. The 26-year-old from Latronche will now meet England's fourth seed Alex Stait.

1st round:
[1] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 (40m)
[8] Sherif Moustafa Kamel (EGY) bt Ali Alramezi (KUW) 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 (38m)
[3] Amr Mansi (EGY) bt [Q] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) w/o
[7] Bader Al Hussaini (KUW) bt [Q] Rob Sutherland (WAL) 5-11, 11-4, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8 (52m)
Julien Balbo (FRA) bt [5] Mark Krajcsak (HUN) 11-8, 11-10 (2-0), 11-7 (50m)
[4] Alex Stait (ENG) bt Badr Abdel Aziz (SWE) 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5 (54m)
[6] Abdullah Almezayen (KUW) bt [Q] Romain Tenant (FRA) 8-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-0 (34m)
[2] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Nasser B Al-Ramzi (KUW) 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 (34m)