By IANS
Kolkata : Third-seed Egyptian Omar Mossad snuffed out Indian hopes, beating Sourav Ghosal in four games in the quarterfinals of the Kolkata International 2008 Squash meet here Wednesday.
Mossad ranked no.27 in the world got the better of Sourav 11-8, 4-11, 11-9,11-1 to move up to the semi-finals.
He also stretched their head-to-head record to 2-0. The last time they met was in the world championships where also he beat Sourav in five games.
After the match Mossad said, “I think I played well in the third and fourth games. The third game was close, but in the fourth, Sourav, I think, calmed down a bit giving me the chance. Sourav is swift and has good strokes and it was difficult to beat him before his home crowd.”
Ghosal also admitted the superiority of the stroke-maker. “When he gets going it’s like a barrage of shots. I was left defending all the time in the fourth game. At his best he can even upset the players much higher (in rankings) than him,” Ghosal said.
Second seed Malaysian Ong Beng Hee fought off a tough challenge from Pakistan’s Farhan Mehboob to defeat him in straight sets 11-10 (2-0), 11-9, 11-4.
The world no.18 played an attacking game and the Pakistani’s unforced errors cost him the tie.
In the only upset of the day Pakistan’s Amir Atlas Khan, seeded fourth and ranked no.31 in the world, was defeated by world no.41 Omar Abdal Aziz in a hard fought tie.
Aziz won 6-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-1, 11-7 in five games in a tie where none of the players refused to give in.
In another match, cousins from Pakistan, Mansoor And Shahid Zaman fought it out with the former getting the better 5-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6.