KARACHI: Former Pakistan number one Shahid Zaman opened his World Championships campaign on a winning note when he came back from a game down to beat England’s Darren Lewis to enter the qualifying finals of the week-long spectacle at Manchester’s National Squash Centre on Saturday night.

Shahid, who is working hard to regain a place in the top-20 world rankings, lost the opener 9-11 but bounced back to beat Lewis 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9 in 43 minutes.

He now meets Ehypt’s Amr Mansi for a place in the man rounds of the World Championships which get underway from today (Monday).

Pakistanís Dubai-based Khawaja Adil Maqbool took just 31 minutes to knock out Matthew Karwalski of Australia in another qualifying game. However, Peshawar youngster Waqar Mehboob fell to Jesse Engelbrecht of South Africa. Engelbrecht won 9-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4, 11-8 in 55 minutes.

Meanwhile, Englishmen Joe Lee, Joel Hinds and Andrew Whipp claimed notable upsets.

The world’s leading players from more than 30 countries are competing in the Hi-Tec World Squash Championships — Manchester 2008, the first ever joint staging of the Men’s World Open and Women’s World Open in the UK.

England junior international Joe Lee, playing in his first event as a senior after celebrating his 19th birthday this week, twice came back from behind to beat Irish international John Rooney 7-11, 20-18, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6 in 69 minutes.

“My first impression of the draw was that it was not the best — but not the worst either,” said the London-born teenager from Walton-on-Thames.

“John beat me the last two times we played each other, so I was glad to get my first win over him,” added Lee, ranked almost 40 places lower than his opponent.

Lee now takes on Egyptian Mohamed El Shorbagy, the world junior champion who took only 19 minutes to despatch Issa Kamara, from Sierra Leone, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9.

Hinds now faces the top-ranked qualifier Dylan Bennett after the Dutchman put out local prospect Morgan Hibberd 11-6, 11-7, 11-6.

Morgan and his 18-year-old twin brother Ky Hibbard were making their maiden appearance in the world championships just eight years after being introduced to the sport at school as the result of a promotional initiative run by the Manchester Squash Development Programme from the National Centre.

Coincidentally, the twins played simultaneously on adjacent courts — and both fell to experienced opponents, Ky going down 11-6, 11-1, 11-6 to 33-year-old world-ranked Englishman Ben Ford.

A few weeks after their introduction to the game, the Hibberds joined junior county squads and quickly progressed.

Morgan became the British U17 number one last year and both have now qualified as coaches and work at the centre.

Local hero Andrew Whipp pulled off the most stunning upset when he beat American Christopher Gordon.