LAHORE, March 15: Bank Alfalah will sponsor the Pakistan Open Squash Championship scheduled to be held here from March 22-27, it was announced here Friday. The sponsorship is worth $105,000 which was paid to Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, president Pakistan Squash Federation.

The logo of the championship was also unveiled which will be played in the newly-acquired glass-wall court.

  Pre-qualification round of the contest will be held on March 18 and 19 while the qualification round on March 20 and 21. The main round will begin on March 22. Apart from World number 9, Australian Paul Price, all the top ranked players are contesting the prestigious event.

Pakistan’s Amjad Khan has been given wild-card entry.

Meanwhile, PSF chief has expressed  disappointment over slow pace of progress of senior Pakistani squash boys, which had been hampering Pakistan’s climb back to the top of the ladder.

“Since I took over as PSF chief, the output of the senior players has not been commensurate with the facilities provided to them. They can easily improve their rankings if they put in their heart and soul into the game and work really hard. On the other hand, junior players have been making rapid progress,” he said.

The PSF president said the competition would provide an ideal opportunity to the Pakistani players tackling world top players.

The PSF boss said he intended to set up strong base of the game throughout the country so that we could unearth fresh talent good enough to emulate the feats of Jehangir Khan and Jansher Khan.