Pakistan Open Squash: PSA consultants satisfied with security plan

KARACHI: Professional Squash Association (PSA) is apparently satisfied with the security arrangements made by Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) for the $50,000 Pakistan Open Squash Championships next month.
“The PSA has instructed its Security and Risk Consultants to view the proposed security arrangements in Pakistan. This has now occurred and they advise the plan is robust and mitigates any risk greatly,” stated PSA on its official website.
PSA added that the Pakistani government, law enforcement agencies and its own security consultants had discussions about the security plan and an on-site inspection. It is worth adding here that PSA had announced that its security consultants would be on-site for the event.
This event has been awarded to Pakistan after the lifting of the ban on Pakistan to host any international event. PSA had cancelled all sanctioned and unsanctioned international events in Pakistan earlier this year due to security concerns as its security consultants had recommended doing so.
The events affected by that move were $15,000 Bahria Town Championships for women, scheduled to be held in March. PSA clearly stated that “any sanctioning of future PSA World Tour events in Pakistan will be dependent on the execution and the security of the tournament in December.”
Meanwhile, the $50,000 Pakistan Open Squash Championships scheduled from December 17-23 has attracted a large number of entries from the top players of the world. However, the security concerns are still there as 18 high-ranked international players have withdrawn from the championship. It is to be noted that as many as 28 foreign players from different countries are participating in this event.