Squash: Battle in Cairo

Defending champion Amr Shabana had to dig deep to keep his world squash championship hopes alive when beating Mohammed Abbas 11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 11-10 yesterday in Cairo to reach the quarter-finals.

The top-seeded Egyptian appeared to lose his competitive edge against his close friend Abbas and had to fight back from 2-8 in the third game and 7-10 in the fourth before securing victory.

Shabana next plays another compatriot, Wael el Hindi, who upset the seedings to reach the last eight.