Egypt’s Zahed ousts India’s Sandhu to enter semis.

Sixth seed Zahed Mohamed of Egypt carried too many guns for Harinderpal Sandhu and raced to a convincing 3-1 win over his Indian rival to advance to the semi-finals of the USD 25,000 2nd CCI-PSA International Squash Championship here today.

Mohamed, ranked 55 in the world, cruised to a 11-6 11-7 2-11 11-9 win in a quarter-final encounter that lasted 54 minutes to leave India number two Mahesh Mangaonkar as the lone player from the host country in the fray after the shock exit of title favourite Saurav Ghosal in the opening round yesterday.

Mangaonkar, ranked 75 in the world, has to overcome the strong challenge from number two seed and world number 30 Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia to progress to the semifinals.

The Alexandria-based Mohamed raced to a 2-0 lead in a short time against the 80th ranked Sandhu who kept his hopes alive by snatching the third game comfortably.

Sandhu, who entered the quarterfinals with a shock win over sixth seed and world number 47 Mohd Ali Anwar Reda of Egypt late last night in the opening round, gave Mohamed a scare when he romped to a 7-3 advantage in the fourth game and raised hopes of a fight back.

The Indian came up with a slew of brilliant strokes but Mohamed matched the effort with delectable nicks that allowed him to take the lead at 8-7.

It was a neck-to-neck battle in the final stages of the game before Mohamed, playing the Indian for the first time, produced another nick to wrap up the match.

“I knew he’s a good player. He played really well in the third game and got me worried again in the fourth when he took that big lead. But I engaged him in long rallies and waited for him to make mistakes,” said the Egyptian after win.

In another quarter-final, Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal overcame fifth seed Jaymie Haycocks of England 11-5 11-8 11-7.