KARACHI, July 25: Pakistan are planning to hold matches against leading squash playing nations including former Asian champions Malaysia and Egypt on a home-and-away basis later this year.

A Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) spokesman said on Friday that the idea behind the holding of a series on a reciprocal basis was to give the local players maximum possible chance to compete against quality opposition.

The Pakistanis are presently preparing for the 2003 World Men’s Team Championships to be held in Vienna (Austria) in October this year.

One of the reasons behind Pakistan’s disappointing performance in the biennial tournament in recent years is the lack of international experience and exposure among most of the local players.

It is due to this reason that the PSF has been trying to hold maximum number of international tournaments at home and now is also considering to organise test matches against countries like Malaysia.

According to the spokesman, the Malaysian squash officials have responded positively to the Pakistan proposal for test matches between the two countries.

Pakistan and Malaysia are arch-rivals at the Asian level these days. At the previous edition of the Asian Seniors Team Championships held in Kuala Lumpur last year Pakistan stunned top seeds Malaysia in the final 3-0 to win the title.

Though Pakistan won the team title, the individual crown of the Asian championships was won by Malaysian ace Ong Beng Hee, Asia’s highest-ranked player on the world circuit.

Apart from Malaysia, the Pakistanis are also interested in playing matches against 2001 World Team Championships’ finalists Egypt.

The Egyptians, having players like former world junior champion Karim Darwish, who recently defeated England’s world No. 1 Peter Nicol on his way to win the Spanish Open, are a force to reckon with at the international circuit.

Egyptian top players including Darwish are regular visitors to Pakistan where they have been competing in international tournaments in recent years.—PPI