Pakistan Squash C’hips Circuit-III from July 6

KARACHI: Karachi is set to host three international high-prize squash events this year.

“The first of them is Pakistan Squash Championships Circuit-III, scheduled from July 6-11 at PN Roshan Khan Jahangir Khan Squash Complex,” said Rashid Khan, the organiser, in a press briefing on Monday.

He said that the event carried a total prize of $15,000 (for men’s event $10,000 and for women’s event $5000). “This is a Satellite Closed event sanctioned by Professional Squash Association (PSA) for Pakistan-origin players only,” said Rashid.

The qualifying round will be played from July 6-7 and the main round from July 8-11. “The winner of the men’s event will receive $1,805 and the winner of women’s event will get $902,” said Rashid.

He added the runner-up of men’s event would receive $1235 and the women’s event winner would get $617.50.

In men’s event, top seed Asim Khan will play against Umair Zaman from Qatar and second seed Farhan Zaman will face Zahir Shah.

Fourth seed Tayyab Aslam is up against wildcard entrant Naveed Rehman and seventh seed Ammad Fareed is to face Khawaja Adil Maqbool.

Fifth seed Farhan Mehboob, third seed Ahsan Ayaz, sixth seed Israr Ahmed, and eighth seed Ali Mujtaba Shah will play against qualifiers.

The qualifiers are Kashif Asif, Danish Atlas Khan, Abdul Malik Khan, Waqar Mehboob, Muhammad Farhan, Noman Khan, Mansoor Zaman, Haseeb Taj, Abdul Qadir, Iqtidar Khan, Haris Iqbal, and Abbas Zeb.

The four local players are Sikander Khan, Mohammad Naeem, Ali Imran, and Saad Abdullah.

“The other two events are DHA international in October and $50,000 Pakistan Open in December,” said Rashid.

Besides, he added, some junior and senior events would be held later this year, including Roshan Khan Championship and DG Rangers international PSA event.

The wild card entry for Naveed Rehman has attracted criticism. “They wasted the wild card, which is meant for a promising junior player. Naveed never won any local junior event so he didn’t deserve the wild card,” said a local coach.