|
|
| July 16, 2005 | Saturday | Jumadi-us-Sani 8, 1426 |
Frenchman top seeded for Pakistan Open
KARACHI, July 15: A quality field including world No. 1 Frenchman Thierry Lincou will feature in the US$85,000 Bank Alfalah Pakistan open squash championship which gets under way at the renovated Asif Nawaz squash complex from July 24.
According to the draws, Lincou has been top seeded and placed in the upper half. David Palmer of Australia, ranked third in the world, has been seeded second and drawn in the lower half of the 32-men draw.
The top 24 seeded players, including three Pakistanis, Shahid Zaman, Mansoor Zaman and Aamir Atlas Khan, have been directly placed in the main round and would be joined by eight qualifiers.
The details of the country’s premier squash championship were announced at a press conference by president of Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) and Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Kaleem Saadat. Senior vice-president of PSF, Air Marshal Rashid Kalim and sponsors’ representatives were also present on the occasion.
The main round will be preceded by two-day pre-qualifying rounds to be played on July 20 and 21 and another two-day qualifying rounds on July 22 and 23. The qualifying matches will be held at the Roshan-Jahangir Squash Complex.
Lincou is pitted against England’s 19th seed Bradley Ball in the first round match on July 24 while Palmer is slated to face qualifier No 8 in his first round encounter on July 25.
Defending champion and world No 8, James Willstrope of England, has been seeded fifth while the last year’s losing finalist Anthony Ricketts of Australia, ranked seventh in the world, is seeded fourth.
Speaking on the occasion, Kaleem Saadat said by hosting the tournament in Karachi after a lapse of six years, the PSF aimed to create enviable environment for youngsters.
He said squash enjoyed special attraction in the hearts of every Pakistani for dominating the world for about three decades. “A lot of hard work is required to be done to revive the glorious past,” he said.
Kaleem Saadat said the PSF has made befitting boarding and lodging arrangements for the foreign players and would leave no stone unturned in extending best possible security to them.
Appreciating the role of sponsors he said hosting of the championship could not have been possible without their financial support.
World ranked players to miss the event are number two Lee Beachill (England), Jonathan Power (Canada) ranked four and John White (Scotland) ranked number ten.
Other foreign stars who have confirmed their participation are Joseph Kneipp, Dan Jenson, Anthony Rickets (Australia); Nick Mathew, Simon Parke, Bradley Ball, Jonathan Kemp, Adrian Grant (England), Karim Darwish, Amir Shabana, Wael El Hindi, Hisham M. Ashour, Muhammad Abbas (Egypt), Gregory Gaultier, Renan Lavigne (France), Ong Beng Hee, Azlan Iskander (Malaysia), Olli Tuominen (Finland).
Meanwhile, PSF released the panel of referees who will supervise the matches of the upcoming Pakistan Open. The 14-member panel consists of Fahim Gul (tournament referee), Mrs Chris Sinclair, Jamshed Gul, Tahir Khanzada and Ayaz Khan (international referees), Mehboob Khan, Munawar Zaman, Yawar Islam, Sajjad Ahmed, Zarak Jehan Khan, Linda Davie, Nematullah, Muhammad Imran and Azam Khan (referees).
|
|
