Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad to feature in BISL in Quetta

KARACHI: Former world squash champion and current world number four Karim Abdel Gawad of Egypt will play in the Balochistan International Squash League (BISL) scheduled to be held in Quetta from November 28-30.

World number 19 Mazed Hesham of Egypt, world number 29 Greg Lobban of Scotland and former British Open champion Miguel Rodriguez of Colombia will also be playing in the league.

The foreign players will be up against Pakistan’s Zahir Shah from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Jahanzeb Yousuf from Quetta, Owais Rasheed from Sindh and M Uzair from Punjab.

“Balochistan government is the sponsor of this league and the four foreign squash players are coming to Quetta for the first time,” said the promoter of the league while talking to ‘The News’ from the USA.

He said Karim and Mazen will reach Quetta on November 26 while Lobban and Rodriguez will arrive a day later. “The opening ceremony will be held on the 27th,” he added.

The promoter said that the quarter-finals will be played on November 28, the semi-finals on the 29th and the final will be held on the 30th of this month.

The world’s most exciting squash players will leave for their countries after attending the closing ceremony on the 30th, making it the biggest squash tournament of the year in Pakistan.

“The winner of the league will get $5000 and the runner-up will be given $2500. The third and fourth position players will get $1500 and $1000, respectively,” he said.

He said that the other players will get $500 each. “Prince Umer Ahmedzai is the chairman of the league,” he added.

The first edition of the BISL was held last year in November in Quetta in which players from Britain, Mexico, Malaysia and Hong Kong participated. Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan is the patron of the league.