Local Nigerian squash players Babatunde Ajagbe and Adewale Amao, the World No.177 and No.467, will carry home hopes into the quarter-finals of the Lagos International Squash Classic, PSA International 25 event, after progressing through the first round at the expense of the tournament’s number three and four seeds.
Ajagbe, the tournament wildcard, earned his place in the quarter-finals after South African Shaun Le Roux, the World No.41, was forced to retire after just 5-minutes of action with Amao, who earned his place in the main draw after coming through qualification, progressing courtesy of the retirement of Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal after 60-minutes of their encounter.
The pair will now go into quarter-final encounters against Pakistan’s Farhan Zaman and Egypt’s Karim Ali Fathi, respectively, when they’ll be aiming to keep alive their hopes of winning the first PSA World Tour tournament to take place in Nigeria since 2008.
Elsewhere, top seeds Adrian Grant and Omar Abdel Meguid cruised through their first round encounters to join Danish Atlas Khan and Peter Creed in the quarter-finals.
Results: First Round – Lagos International Squash Classic 2014, Lagos, Nigeria
[1] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [Q] Jonas Daehler (SUI) 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 (3-0) (30m) [7] Danish Atlas Khan (PAK) bt [Q] Moses Durosinmi (NGR) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (3-0) (30m) [6] Farhan Zaman (PAK) bt Ahmad Al-Saraj (JOR) 12-10, 11-8, 11-3 (3-0) (35m) [WC] Babatunde Ajagbe (NGR) bt [4] Shaun Le Roux (RSA) 7-3 Retired (5m) [Q] Adewale Amao (NGR) bt [3] Nasir Iqbal (PAK) 11-7, 3-5 Retired (60m) [5] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt Muhammad Saqib Yousaf (PAK) 11-5, 11-6, 11-9 (3-0) (38m) [8] Peter Creed (WAL) bt Tayyab Aslam (PAK) 11-8, 11-8, 12-10 (3-0) (59m) [2] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt [Q] Idowu Enimakure (NGR) 11-3, 11-2, 11-7 (3-0) (20m)
Quarter-final Draw:
[1] Adrian Grant (ENG) v [7] Danish Atlas Khan (PAK) [6] Farhan Zaman (PAK) v [WC] Babatunde Ajagbe (NGR) [Q] Adewale Amao (NGR) v [5] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) [8] Peter Creed (WAL) v [2] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY)
