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| September 12, 2003 | Friday | Rajab 14, 1424 |
Four more Pakistanis to compete in British Open
KARACHI, Sept 11: Four more Pakistanis have been included in the qualifying round draw of the 2003 British Open Squash Championship following a series of withdrawals from the prestigious tournament to be held in Nottingham this fall.
According to the revised list of participants of the two-day qualifying rounds, Arshad Iqbal Burki, Abdul Razzak, Mohammad Nasir Farooq and Rizwan Farooq have joined Pakistan No. 2 Shahid Zaman and world No. 41 Farrukh Zaman in the qualifiers to be held at the Nottingham Squash Club on September 29 and 30.
Pakistan No. 1 Mansoor Zaman, a world No. 15 is included in the main draw of the championship.
The inclusion of the four Pakistanis only came after a number of professionals pulled out of the event.
The 32-man list of the qualifying round participants now includes Nick Taylor (Eng), Adrian Grant (Eng), Mohammed Abbas (Egy), Nick Matthew (Eng), Renan Lavigne (Fra), Olli Tuominen (Fin), Omar Elborolossy (Egy), Shahier Razik (Can), Dan Jenson (Aus), Stephen Meads (Eng), Shahid Zaman (Pak), David Evans (Wal),
Wael El Hindi (Egy), James Willstrop (Eng), David Bianchetti (Ita), Farrukh Zaman (Pak), Tommy Berden (Ned), Borja Golan (Esp), Del Harris (Eng), Lee Drew (Eng), Peter Genever (Eng), Jonathan Kemp (Eng), Bradley Ball (Eng), Tim Garner (Eng)
The six local players in the qualifiers are Joey Barrington (Eng), John Rooney (Irl), Sam Miller (Eng), Nick Douglas (ENG)
World number one Peter Nicol is top seed for the British Open, which will take place at the Albert Hall in Nottingham from October 1 to 5 following qualifying rounds at Nottingham Squash Club.
Nicol, the defending champion from England, leads a strong British contingent in a high quality men’s field which includes Scotland’s world No3 John White, the 3rd seed; England’s twice British National champion Lee Beachill, the 7th seed; Scotland’s world No14 Martin Heath; and England’s world No15 Mark Chaloner.
Nicol faces Scottish champion Heath on the state-of-the-art all-glass Albert Hall court in what is certain to be an emotionally-charged first round match.
The seeding predicts one of the sport’s most sought-after clashes in the quarterfinals: Nicol v Jonathon Power, the fourth-seeded Canadian and former world No1 who wrested the gold medal from Nicol in last year’s Commonwealth Games final in Manchester.
World champion David Palmer is seeded to meet Nicol in the British Open final. The Australian, fighting back to full fitness after complications following appendix surgery, potentially faces tough opposition in the semi-finals where he is scheduled to meet third seed John White.
White, based in Nottingham, is enjoying an excellent run of form following victories in the recent PSA Masters and Prince English Open.
Australia’s Stewart Boswell withdrew his entry on the eve of the closing date, still suffering from his long-standing back injury.—PPI
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