KARACHI, Aug. 10: Top players of the country will be featuring in the second All Pakistan Almas Baig Masters Cup Table Tennis Championship which opens at Islamia Club Indoor Gymnasium from Monday.

Besides men and ladies team events which will be played on knock-out basis, men and women will also participate in the league and super league event after which Pakistan team for XIV Asian Games will be formed.

Allied Bank Limited (ABL) will defend both its men and women team events titles and men and women ladies singles crown.

The four-day event will commence with team events. ABL, HBL, Wapda, ADBP, Lahore, Pak PWD, Faisalabad and Karachi will be appearing in the men’s team event. ABL, Army, HBL and Wapda women’s team will figure in ladies team event.

These 16 women will be placed in four groups will two top from each group advancing in the super league and top players will secure place in the Asian Games team.

Reigning national men’s singles champion Asim Qureshi is top seeded for the event other players invited for the championship are: Kashif Razzak, Farjad Saif, Khurram Rasheed, Shahzad Waseem, Shahzad Razzak (ABL), Ali Faisal, Saleem Abbas, Sajid Hussain, Adnan Mushtaq, Masood Hussain (WAPDA), Bilal Yaseen, Mehboob Elahi (ADBP), Yasir Iqbal, Asim Aziz (HBL), Asim Muneer, M. Iqbal, Faisal Ghori (Faisalabad), Kh.Kashif, Asim Hussain, Ayaz Laghari, Ashfaquddin (Karachi), Jahangir, Owais Mukhtar (Lahore), M. Farooq, Tariq Aziz (Rawalpindi), Arshad Taskeen (Bahawalpur), Arif Siddiqui, Rizwan (Hazara), Farooq Ahmed (Multan), Shahid Saif (Mirpurkhas) and Nadir Sohail (PWD).

The ladies players invited are national singles champion Ghazala Roohi, Rahila Anjum, Naila Anjum, Rizwana Saleem (ABL), Shama Naz, Shabnam Bilal, Sania Qaiser (HBL), Asia Ikram, Shabnam Yasmeen, Tayyaba Gill, Loiza Irshad (Wapda), Naureen Tehseen (PWD), Mehtab Alam, Seemab Alam (Army), Ayesha Iqbal (Lahore), Maria Jamil (Multan).

HBL TT team: Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Saturday named a seven-member men and women squad for second All Pakistan Almas Baig Table Tennis tournament.

Yasir Iqbal will lead the team which also included Ahmed Hussain and Asim Aziz. The women team comprised of Shabnam Bilal, Shama Naz, Saniya Qasier, and Saima Shamim.

Irshad Syed will be manager of the team.—APP