All nine Pakistani players advance into the second round of British Junior Open 2020

All nine Pakistani players got off to a flying start as they moved into the second round of British Junior Open 2020 in Birmingham. 

In the first round of under-13 category, Pakistan’s main title hope Abdullah Nawaz had to dig deep to overpower Christian Capella of the US with the final score line of 12-10, 13-11, 8-11, 12-10. Now Nawaz will face Aqil Mirza of Malaysia in the second round.

Muhammad Ammad, Anas Ali Shah, and second seed Hamza Khan got byes in the first round of under-15 category. In the second round, Hamza faces Guido Linder of the Netherlands, Anas is up against Palmer Deville of England, and Ammad is to face Oliver Coulcher-Porter of England.

In the first round of under-17 category, Waleed Khalil thrashed Kieran Mahoney of England 11-3, 11-2, 11-2 while Noor Zaman and Asadullah Khan got byes. Noor is drawn against Amin Khan of Canada, Walid will be playing against Denis Gilevskiy of Ireland, and Asadullah is playing against Usman Khan of Canada in the second round.

In U-19 category, Pakistan’s major title hope Hamza Shareef was playing against Czech Republic’s Lubos Walter. The first game started well as both were trying to dominate each other but Lubos settled well and took a healthy 4-1 lead.

After a slow start, Hamza bounced back and levelled the score at 4-all and then led 9-4 before winning the first game 11-6 in 5 minutes. 

In the second game, Hamza played smooth squash and never looked in any trouble as he won the second game and third games 11-6 to book berth in the second round.

Haris Qasim got bye in the first round and will now be playing against Taylor Carrick of Bermuda while Hamza takes on Max Forster of England in the second round.