Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers International Squash Classic Round Two Qualifying Results 

Qualifying has wrapped up for the Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers New Zealand International Squash Classic at SquashGym. Some exciting Squash was played but undoubtedly the match of the night was played between Englishman Ashley Davies and local Kashif Shuja in a five set thriller.

Shuja playing in front of his home crowd was fired up to make the main draw but got off to a sluggish start with the hard hitting Englishman taking the first 11 – 8. The second was a classic back and forth battle. Shuja was pulling out all of his tricks and deception skills which made Davies use the back glass a number of times just to stay in rallies. Davies dug deep though and took a 2 – 0 advantage 15 – 13. Shuja looked down and out but some outstanding shot making over the next two games made it 2 all. Shuja made a very sluggish start to the fifth and Davies pounced and didn’t let his chance slip to take the match 11 – 5 in the decider. Davies will play Malaysian Ivan Yeun in the first round of the main draw.

Malaysian Mohd Syafig Kamal upset his higher ranked countryman Addeen Idrakie in three straight sets to kick off the nights qualifying. Kamal got on top early and never let it slip. He now plays top seed Paul Coll in tomorrow night’s first round.

Another Malaysian Eain Yow Ng extinguished New Zealander Ben Grindrod’s hopes of qualifying in three straight sets. Grindrod made too many errors which allowed Ng a comfortable win. Ng received a good first round match up against seventh seed Joshua Larkin from Australia.

The final match of the night saw Finland’s Matias Tuomi beat Australian David Clegg in a relatively straight forward three set match. Tuomi now plays England’s Joshua Masters in the first round.

The tournament lost third seed Mahesh Mangaonkar who withdrew due to visa issues which meant a lucky draw was required to fill his spot from one of tonight’s loser’s from qualifying. Tournament official Troy Ramsay drew a name from the hat and local Kashif Shuja was the one to receive another life. Shuja must have had ‘karma’ on his side after playing an entertaining and quality match and losing in five. His luck continued when he was drawn to play eight seed James Huang in what he will see as an excellent opportunity to progress further.

Play gets underway at 5.00pm tonight at SquashGym Palmerston North with free entry for spectators.

The tournament will also be streamed ‘live’ online to 1000’s around New Zealand and the World. You can watch the excitement here

Draws for the PSA event can be found here whilst the local event and womens draws can be found here

Make sure to check out what happened in the leadup and qualifying round 1 as well!

Round 2 Qualifying 

(1) Addeen Idrakie (Mas) lost to (6) Mohd Syafig Kamal (MAS) 5 – 11, 10 – 12, 7 - 11

(5) Eain Yow Ng (MAS) beat (4) Ben Grinrod (NZ) 11 – 5, 11 – 7, 13 - 11

(3) Ashley Davies (ENG) beat (7) Kashif Shuja (NZ) 11 – 8, 15 – 13, 10 – 12, 9 – 11, 11 - 5

(8) David Glegg (AUS) (2) lost to (2) Matias Tuomi (FIN) 6 – 11, 12 – 14, 8 - 11

For more information; Michael Williams, Media Manager, 027 6712988 media@squashgym.co.nz