ISLAMABAD: The Asian Squash Federation (ASF) has rescheduled the Asian Men’s Individual event for December in Pakistan in a bid to reset the calendar of international commitments in Asia.
Pakistan were given the rights to host the event from August 25, 2021, in Islamabad but the reshuffle in the international schedule to be staged in Asia will see Pakistan now hosting the event in December this year.
“We have just received a communique from the Asian Squash, confirming that the Asian Individual Squash Championship to be held in Pakistan in August 2021 will now be held in December this year,” a Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) official when contacted said.
The action will begin with the Asian Team Championship in Malaysia near the end of November this year. The event will be followed by World Team Championship also schedule for Malaysia in December. It will be followed by the Asian Individual Championship in Islamabad. Some leading Malaysian and Hong Kong players besides Pakistan’s top players are expected to compete in the event. It is not clear yet as to whether players from India will be competing in the Championship.
The ASF had earlier postponed the 20th Asian Team Championship scheduled for Malaysia from August 17-21 and chances were there that individual event might also, be rescheduled.
The ASF hopes that by the time the Championship starts in December the coronavirus situation would improve considerably in Asia.
India, Iran, Indonesia, and a few other Asian countries are in a grip of the COVID-19 variant wave. Federations there have expressed their inability to participate in any major squash event within the next few months. “The ASF has broken the mum on the fate of Asian Individual Championship following the postponement of the Team Championship. After getting feedback from the member countries, the Asian federation has now decided to readjust the dates,” the official said.
Though the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) has requested the postponement of the 20th Asian Team Championships, which was due to be held August 17-21, 2021, to the later part of the year, the PSF has made no such request and left it to the ASF to decide on the event.
The PSF was eager to hold the Asian Individual as it would set the tone for more important events to come. Besides the Asian Individual, the country is set to host the CAS International, Pakistan Open and all-important World Squash Congress later this year.
“By the grace of Almighty Allah, the Covid-19 situation in Islamabad is much better. We are adamant to hold all events as we know we have all the arrangements in place and take care of our guests,” the official said.
He said it was up to the Asian body to decide on the event.
When asked as to why the PSF did not place a bid to host the World Team event instead of Malaysia, the official said that the WSF never invited any bids and shifted the venue from New Zealand to Malaysia on its own.
“We were ready to host even the World Team event but no bids were invited and the decision to shift the team event from New Zealand to Malaysia was taken by the WSF on its own.”
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