ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) on Monday announced the squads for the forthcoming Asian Team Championship and Commonwealth Games.

Both Farhan Mehboob, Pakistan’s top international player, and veteran Maria Toor because of health issues would not be seen in action at the Asian event being staged in South Korea from March 21 to 25.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held on Gold Coast, Australia from April 4 to 15. Maria will be available for the Commonwealth Games.

Top four players -- Farhan Zaman, Tayyab Aslam, Amaad Fareed and Mohammad Asim Khan -- would represent Pakistan in the men’s event of the Asian Team Championship, the PSF announced.

After Maria Toor conveyed her unavailability for the Asian event due to an ankle injury, the women’s team includes Madina Zafar, Sadia Gul, Faiza Zafar and Riffat Khan.

Farhan, who did not feature in the trials because of health issues, is not available for both the events.

Farhan, Tayyab, Maria Toor and Madina have been selected to represent Pakistan at the Commonwealth Games.

The squad was picked after five-day trials organised by the PSF.

Meanwhile, the PSF has set up a training camp under the supervision of legendary Qamar Zaman in Islamabad for the selected players to prepare for the two events.

The camp will continue until the departure of the squads for the aforementioned competitions.

“A balanced team on the basis of performance has been selected; we hope that these players will produce better results in both the tournaments,” PSF secretary Tahir Sultan told Dawn.

“While the camp is directly under the supervision of Qamar, input from other legends will also be sought to prepare the players better,” Tahir added.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2018