Hosts Kuwait Conquer Pakistan In Historic Asian Upset

In the most remarkable upset in the 27-year history of the event, hosts Kuwait today beat former champions Pakistan in the semi-finals of the Asian Team Championships to deny the region's long-time rulers of men's squash a place in the final for the first time.

Pakistan won the inaugural championship in 1981 - and continued to rule unopposed in Asia until losing to Malaysia in the 2000 final.

But determined efforts by unsung Kuwaiti heroes Salem F Mohammed and Abdullah Almezayen consigned Pakistan to semi-final losers in the 14th staging of the event. Mohammed, aged 20 and the world No 253 in June 2006, despatched Pakistan's world No 69 Yasir Butt 9-7, 9-5, 3-9, 4-9, 9-7 in 78 minutes.

Abdullah Almezayen, also a 20-year-old - who reached the semi-finals of the individual event as a 9/16 seed - then battled back from two games down to overcome Pakistan No1 Shahid Zaman 6-9, 5-9, 9-3, 9-5, 9-2 in 67 minutes to clinch the hosts' sensational victory.

First-time finalists Kuwait will now meet Malaysia in the final after the defending champions beat India 2/0 in the other semi-final.

In the women's event, title-holders Malaysia beat Japan 2/0 and will meet Hong Kong in the final for the third successive time.

Men's semi-finals:
MALAYSIA bt INDIA 2-0
Ong Beng Hee bt Ritwik Bhattacharya 10-9, 10-8, 9-3 (41m)
Mohd Azlan Iskandar bt Saurav Ghosal 6-9, 9-5, 9-0, 9-4 (62m)

KUWAIT bt PAKISTAN 2-0
Salem F Mohammed bt Yasir Butt 9-7, 9-5, 3-9, 4-9, 9-7 (78m)
Abdullah Almezayen bt Shahid Zaman 6-9, 5-9, 9-3, 9-5, 9-2 (67m)

5th - 8th place play-offs:
JAPAN bt SOUTH KOREA 2-1
Takanori Shimizu lost to Kim Hyun-Dong 6-9, 1-9, 8-10 (64m)
Jun Matsumoto bt Lee Nyeon-Ho 10-8, 9-7, 9-5 (24m)
Yuta Fukui bt Lee Seung Taek 9-1, 9-4, 9-1 (30m)

HONG KONG bt SRI LANKA 2-0
Wai Hang Wong bt Eranga Amunagama 9-5, 9-0, 9-1 (25m)
Dick Lau bt Navin Samarasinghe 9-2, 9-4, 9-2 (33m)

Women's Semi-finals:
MALAYSIA bt JAPAN 2-0
Sharon Wee bt Kozue Onizawa 9-6, 9-5, 9-2 (27m)
Nicol David bt Chinatsu Matsui 9-2, 9-5, 9-3 (27m)

HONG KONG bt SOUTH KOREA 2-0
Elise Ng bt Ahn Eun Chan 9-7, 9-3, 9-5 (45m)
Rebecca Chiu bt Park Eun Ok 9-1, 9-3, 9-3 (26m)

5th - 8th place play-offs:
CHINA bt MACAU 2-0
Jiang Li bt Maria Estela Gageiro Madeira 9-0, 9-0, 9-0 (14m)
Wu Zhenzhen bt Si Man Wendy Chan 9-2, 9-3, 9-0 (15m)

INDIA bt CHINESE TAIPEI 2-0
Surbhi Misra bt Li Chun Ping 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 (10m)
Anwesha Reddy bt Hung Ning Yu 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 (18m)