Kish Yasi Cup: Shameli Claims First Tour Title

Alireza Shameli has taken the first title of his professional career thanks to a victory at the Kish Yasi Cup, and he did so the hard way, as the No.6 seed for the event.

The event was restricted to only domestic entries due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with only players currently living in Iran being allowed to enter the tournament, which was held at Kish Squash Centre.

Shameli received a bye through to the second round, where he was joined by four surprise winners from the opening matches. Amirhossein Feizpour, Mohammad Khani, Faryad Sharifian and wildcard Alireza Rezaei all made it through, and he would play the wildcard in the last 16.

After getting the better of Rezaei in just 12 minutes, Shameli then came up against No.2 seed Mohammad Kashani in the quarter-finals. He took just over an hour to win the match on a tie-break in the fourth game, before then beating No.7 seed Sepehr Etemadpoor in the last four of the event.

The 22-year-old came up against No.3 seed Navid Maleksabet in the final, and he was in complete control throughout the match, winning in straight games in 39 minutes to secure his first title on the PSA Tour.

Results: Kish Nasi Cup
Final
[6] Alireza Shameli (IRI) bt [3] Navid Maleksabet (IRI) 3-0: 11-8, 11-4, 12-10 (39m)

Semi-Finals
[3] Navid Maleksabet (IRI) bt [5] Sami Ghasedabadi (IRI) 3-2: 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10 (75m)
[6] Alireza Shameli (IRI) bt [7] Sepehr Etemadpoor (IRI) 3-1: 11-8, 11-7, 12-14, 11-7 (50m)

Quarter-Finals
[5] Sami Ghasedabadi (IRI) bt Soheil Shameli (IRI) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 (33m)
[3] Navid Maleksabet (IRI) bt [8] Pouya Shafieifard (IRI) 3-1: 11-9, 12-10, 13-15, 11-4 (41m)
[7] Sepehr Etemadpoor (IRI) bt Mohammad Khani (IRI) 3-1: 5-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-9 (34m)
[6] Alireza Shameli (IRI) bt [2] Mohammad Kashani (IRI) 3-1: 11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 13-11 (62m)

Round Two
Soheil Shameli (IRI) bt [1] Sajad Zareian Jahromi (IRI) 3-2: 8-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8, 1-0 rtd (53m)
[5] Sami Ghasedabadi (IRI) bt Amirhossein Feizpour (IRI) 3-1: 11-6, 11-3, 6-11, 11-2 (33m)
[8] Pouya Shafieifard (IRI) bt Sahand Kabiri (IRI) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 (25m)
[3] Navid Maleksabet (IRI) bt Aryan Etemadi (IRI) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 12-10 (19m)
Mohammad Khani (IRI) bt [4] Amin Ataei (IRI) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 934m)
[7] Sepehr Etemadpoor (IRI) bt Faryad Sharifian (IRI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (21m)
[6] Alireza Shameli (IRI) bt [WC] Alireza Rezaei (IRI) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (12m)
[2] Mohammad Kashani (IRI) bt Mohammad Jafari (IRI) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (24m)

Round One
Soheil Shameli (IRI) bt Pouyan Kamali (IRI) 3-0: 11-2, 11-0, 11-4 (16m)
Amirhossein Feizpour (IRI) bt Sadegh Khani (IRI) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 (27m)
Sahand Kabiri (IRI) bt Pouria Arbasi (IRI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-3 (30m)
Aryan Etemadi (IRI) bt [WC] Danial Gharooni (IRI) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3 rtd (13m)
Mohammad Khani (IRI) bt Omid Hoseini (IRI) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-3 (17m)
Faryad Sharifian (IRI) bt Danial Hossein Zadeh (IRI) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 (28m)
[WC] Alireza Rezaei (IRI) bt Seyedalireza Riyaz (IRI) 3-1: 11-8, 5-11, 11-7, 11-3 (33m)
Mohammad Jafari (IRI) bt Ali Taj (IRI) 3-0: 11-1, 11-4, 11-1 (14m)