Egyptians Lead Upsets In Chennai

Teenagers Mohd Sayed Mahmoud Aly and Omar Tarek Mahm Aly boosted Egyptian interest in the quarter-finals of the 5th ICL Chennai Open - Circuit 2 after causing notable upsets in the first round of the PSA Tour event at the ICL Squash Academy in the Indian city of Chennai.

Mohd Sayed Mahmoud Aly became the only qualifier to make the last eight when he beat India's No7 seed Parth Sharma 11-3, 11-8, 3-11, 9-11, 11-7 in 40 minutes. The 17-year-old from Cairo now faces Ritwik Bhattacharya after the top seed from India, playing his first match in a few months, convincingly defeated compatriot Gaurav Nandrajog 11-6, 11-4, 11-8.

Unseeded Omar Tarek Mahm Aly, 18, from Alexandria, despatched Denmark's No8 seed Jonas Laursen 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 to set up a clash with Hong Kong's Dick Lau, the third seed who beat UK-based Egyptian Karim AGA Samy 11-6, 11-8, 11-6.

ICL Academy's Harinder Pal Sandhu avenged his defeat on Sunday at the 1st SPA Classic (a national event) when he defeated fellow countryman Siddharth Suchde in a thrilling five-game encounter. Exceptional retrieving from both players was the order of the day with fourth seed Harinder coming from 4-7 down in the fifth with three amazing forehand kills to win his first match against Siddharth 11-2, 11-4, 7-11, 3-11, 11-9 in 51 minutes.

1st round:
[1] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (IND) 11-6, 11-4, 11-8 (28m)
[Q] Mohd Sayed Mahmoud Aly (EGY) bt [7] Parth Sharma (IND) 11-3, 11-8, 3-11, 9-11, 11-7 (40m)
[3] Dick Lau (HKG) bt Karim AGA Samy (EGY) 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 (32m)
Omar Tarek Mahm Aly (EGY) bt [8] Jonas Laursen (DEN) 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 (20m)
[5] Naresh Kumar (IND) bt [Q] Hitham Ashoush (EGY) 11-3, 8-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-2 (43m)
[4] Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) bt Siddharth Suchde (IND) 11-2, 11-4, 7-11, 3-11, 11-9 (51m)
[6] Parthiban Ayappan (IND) bt [Q] Akshay Deepak (IND) 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 (12m)
[2] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) bt [Q] Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) 11-6, 11-5, 11-10 (3-1) (30m)