No wildcard entries in Southern Punjab International Squash Tournament

KARACHI: The organisers have discarded the wildcard option at the $10,000 Southern Punjab International Squash Tournament due to interference from Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF).

The event is to commence from Thursday at DHA Multan.

“The federation wanted to use the wildcard despite the fact that it’s the right of organisers,” said a source. “The federation continued pressurise the organisers so they scrapped this option and now nobody is getting wildcard in this event,” the source added.

The source added that this skirmish between the organisers and the federation hurt the emerging talented players. “The loss is of players. The federation and the organisers should have found a solution for the sake of the players,” said the source.

Meanwhile, the draw of the event is out. In the first round, Danish Atlas will play against Darosham Khan, M Farhan is to face Nasir Iqbal, Israr Ahmed is up against Farhan Hashmi, Noor Zaman will be facing Amaad Fareed, Asim Khan is drawn against Salman Saleem, Saeed Abdul will face Waqas Mehboob, Zahir Shah is to play against Naveed Rehman, and Ali Bokhari will face Farhan Zaman.

It is pertinent to mention here that this event is open only for domestic players. And this is the second international event this year in Pakistan.