November 1, 2001	Thursday	Shaba’an 14, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 31: Pakistan have been allotted the 2005 World Men’s Team Squash Championship while they have also offered to host the World Junior tournament in 2004 in case Colombia are unable to do so because of security reasons.

A press release of the Pakistan Squash Federation said Wednesday that the decisions were taken at the 31st Annual General Meeting of the World Squash Federation in Melbourne recently.

The AGM was attended by Air Marshal Syed Qaiser Hussain, Senior Vice President of the PSF along with Jahangir Khan who is a vice president of both the WSF and the Pakistan federation.

In the meeting, reservations were expressed by some members about security in Colombia for the World Junior Championship. In this backdrop Pakistan filed a back-up bid to stage the competition.

Security for the forthcoming World Open in India was also discussed. The representative of the Squash Rackets Federation of India assured the house that the participants would be provided tight security. He also said that players would be assisted in acquiring visas to ensure their participation in the tournament.

The squash bosses emphasised the need to ensure dope testing of players prior to their participation in any world ranking tournament. It was decided that dope tests for every event would be made mandatory.

Another important decision taken in the AGM was that in future all world junior/senior tournaments would be played with a 17” tin. Previously the height was optional for 17” and 19”.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s arrangements for the SAF Games in Islamabad also came up for discussion and these were appreciated by the house, particularly the efforts of the PSF for promoting women’s squash.