Shuja shines again in Palmerston North

Top local hope Kashif Shuja showed his skill and experience in qualifying for the NZ International Classic last night.

Top local hope and former top 40 PSA ranked Kashif Shuja showed his skill and experience to book a place in the main draw at the New Zealand International Squash Classic at Palmerston North tonight.

Shuja was clinical in beating countryman Zac Millar in straight games and will be hoping for a kind draw tomorow. He will be joined by fellow New Zealander Ben Grindrod who dispatched the home club’s other local hope former full-time pro Josh Greenfield in a tight 3 sets. Grindrod who hails from the Bay of Plenty region in New Zealand showed his improvement and time well spent recently training in England.

The two New Zealanders were joined by qualifying top seed Tristan Eysele who was too sharp for New Zealand junior Scott Galloway, winning 3 – 0 in 22 mins.  South Africa's Eysele showed enough to suggest he could cause some headaches in the main draw tomorrow.  Malaysia’s Hannan Tarmidi showed he will be no push-over either with a good performance in beating USA’s Mike Lewis, also in straight games.

Tune in to first round action from 5.30pm (NZT) on Thursday: http://new.livestream.com/NBLlivestreaming/events/3072393.

Full draws for the NZ International Classic and North Island Championships: http://www.squash.org.nz/sit/live/tournament/event/1013208.

Final Round Qualifying Results

(1)Tristan Eysele (RSA) beat (L) Scott Galloway 11/6 11/4 11/7 (22 mins) (plays Beddoes)
(4) Kashif Shuja beat Zac Millar 11/4 11/5 11/7 (23 mins) (plays Murrills)
(3) Ben Grindrod beat (L) Joshua Greenfield 11/4 11/6 11/7 (plays Tuomi)
(2) Hannan Tarmidi (MAS) beat (7)Mike Lewis (USA) 11/7 11/4 11/4 (plays Coll)