Pakistan Dominate World Junior Championships In Islamabad

Hosts Pakistan have swept all before them in the PIA Men's World Junior Championship today in Islamabad. Six local players will move into tomorrow's fourth round at the new Mushaf Squash Complex, with Amir Atlas Khan and Shah Nawaz being the only unseeded players to reach the last sixteen.

Nawaz beat Sulaiman Al Khamees 9-4 9-4 9-5, despite the Kuwaiti putting up a good fight. Amir Atlas Khan, the 14-year-old from Peshawar who was a surprise winner of the Pakistan National Junior title last month, despatched England's 5/8 seed Tom Richards 9-5 9-1 9-2. A nephew of the great Jansher Khan, Amir now meets Germany's Jens Schoor.

The most dramatic encounter took place between Egyptians Mahmoud Adel and Ahmed El Swaify. Adel, runner-up in the British Junior U19 Open at the beginning of the year and seeded to reach the semi-finals in Islamabad, dropped the first two games against his compatriot, seeded in the 17/32 group. El Swaify had match balls in the next two games, but Adel maintained his composure to survive 6-9 0-9 10-9 10-8 9-2.

Top seed Saurav Ghosal, who is seeded to become the first Indian winner of the event, removed Malaysia's Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan 9-2 9-2 9-0 to set up a fourth round clash with Pakistan's Basit Ashfaq.

Behind Pakistan's six players through to the last sixteen come Germany, Egypt and England with two players each, and India, USA, New Zealand and Canada with just a single representative.