Ashour to meet Shabana in all Egyptian semifinal

Mumbai: It will be an all-Egyptian affair in the semifinal of the `Punj Lloyd PSA Masters 2009` as second seed Amr Shabana and compatriot Ramy Ashour won their respective quarter-final matches at the Bombay Gymkhana.

While Shabana overcame stiff resistance from another Egyptian Mohamed El Shorbagy before emerging 11-5, 5-11, 12-10, 11-7 victorious, Ashour won a hard-fought five-setter, marred by some poor refereeing, 11-8 16-18 9-11 4-11 11-8 against Australian David Palmer in what was one of the most thrilling matches of the tournament. The game began at a frenetic pace as the third seed Ashour pocketed the first game 11-8.However, no one would have anticipated that Palmer would take a 7-1 lead in the second game. Ashour made a spectacular comeback winning some good points to make the score 10-9. Palmer had an opportunity to shut the game on his opponent but he missed a winner forcing the game into a tie break. The tie break saw some amazing display as the other made a comeback every time one went ahead. However, erroneous decision by the referee handed the game to Palmer to the disbelief of Ashour.Ashour continued to bear the brunt of some poor decision by the referee which in turn affected his game. He argued, begged and advised the referee to concentrate on the ball and not on him but finally had to resign to his fate. PTI