Many foreign squash players to visit Pakistan later this year

KARACHI: As many as 15 foreign squash players are coming to Pakistan to play two $25,000 events to be held in Islamabad in October and November.
Eight players will be playing CAS International Squash Championship from October 1-6 and seven players are to take part in the Pakistan International Squash Tournament from November 5-10.
The main draw foreign players of the CAS Championship are top seed Omar Abdel Meguid of Egypt (ranked 31st); second seed Mohamed Abouelghar of Egypt (ranked 38th); third seed Karim Ali Fathi of Egypt (ranked 42nd); seventh seed Shehab Essam of Egypt (ranked 89th); Lance Beddoes of New Zealand (ranked 98th); and Aqeel Rehman of Austria (ranked 99th).
Basem Makram of Egypt (ranked 259th) and Abbas Maniar of the United States (ranked 322nd) are the foreign players in the qualifying draw.
Asian junior champion Israr Ahmed has been given wildcard by Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) in this event.
The foreign players of the main draw of the second event are top seed Omar Abdel Meguid; second seed Karim Ali Fathi; fourth seed Todd Harrity of United States (ranked 61st); seventh seed Aqeel Rehman; and Ahmad Al-Saraj of Jordan (ranked 144th).
Basem Makram and Abbas Maniar are in the qualifying draw.
PSF has given wildcard to Abbas Shoukat in this event.
However, Farhan Zaman and Amirt Atlas Khan are not playing both the events as they are playing the US squash circuit.
“We deliberately sent Farhan to play US circuit which is these days less busy and there are bright chances for him to win some events,” said PSF secretary Amir Nawaz.
He added that they did not want to field all their top players in these two events. “This is part of our strategy. We did not want them to play against each other,” added Amir.
It is worth adding here that the absence of Amir Atlas Khan, who was the finalist against Omar in the first PSA-25 event since 2007 held last year in Pakistan from these events has diminished Pakistan’s chances of winning titles in these high-prized events. “He is not in our control,” said the secretary when asked about Amir Atlas.