October 11, 2001	Thursday	Rajab 23, 1422

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KARACHI, Oct 10: Six-time champions Pakistan fly to Australian city of Melbourne Thursday, aiming to reach last four in the 18th world squash team championship from Oct 22 to 28.

Having won the last team championship title in 1993 in Karachi under the captaincy of Jahangir Khan, Pakistan were relegated to 12th place in the 28-nation contest two years ago in Cairo, Egypt, the worst ever performance in the 33-year history of the championship.

However, on the basis of current world ranking, Pakistan have been seeded ninth for the Melbourne contest to be participated by 25 countries. Title-holders Egypt have seeded sixth.

Pakistan squad consists of leading player 28th-ranked Mansoor Zaman, Shahid Zaman (No 42 ), Aijaz Azmat (No 53) and Shamsul Islam (No 55).

Seedings till 16 in the coming championship are 1-Australia, 2-England, 3-Wales, 4-Scotland, 5-Canada, 6-Egypt, 7-France, 8-Finland, 9-Pakistan, 10-Malaysia, 11-South Africa, 12-Sweden, 13-Germany, 14-Ireland, 15-New Zealand, 16- The Netherlands.

The Pakistani quartet had light workout for over one hour Wednesday at the PIA Squash Complex and were confident to reach at least the semifinals.

Coach Aftab Jawaid said Pakistan would reach the last four and hinted at the possibility of qualifying for the final.

He said the players had trained hard for the forthcoming event and had also competed in two Super Series contests, the Hong Kong and Qatar Opens, besides taking part in the international tournaments in Pakistan.

Coach felt the players were capable of pulling off some surprise victories like Shahid who caused a major upset by defeating Australian world number four Paul Price in the first round of the recently concluded $140,000 Qatar Open in Doha.

Pakistan players will also take part in the $30000 Challenger tournament which starts Oct 15. The event, a non-ranking tournament, would serve as a warm-up to the team championship.

Senior vice-president of the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), Air Marshal, Syed Qaiser Hussain, who will attend the World Squash Federation (WSF), meeting in Melbourne on Oct 18, will join the team as manager.