KARACHI, Aug 1: Pakistan squash officials are confident that the prestigious World Open Championship to be held in their backyard this December will help in their bid to once again lift the standard of the game in the country.

A top Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) official said that the US$150,000 World Open recently sanctioned to Pakistan by the Professional squash Association (PSA) will be a shot in the arm for the sport especially for the rising young players of the country.

Air Marshal Raashid Kalim, senior-vice President PSF, said that though it was unlikely that the coveted title will be won by a Pakistan this year, there were hopes that young players will get maximum benefit from the the prestigious event.

Pakistan were awarded the hosting rights of the 2003 World Open by the Cardiff-based PSA earlier this week. Pakistan, who have hosted the World Open twice during the last ten years (in 1993 and 1996) were chosen as venue by the PSA who were also sent a bid by the UAE whose squash officials were interested in holding the event in Dubai.

According to the schedule finalised by PSA and PSF, the tournament will be held in Lahore from Dec 12 to 21. The two-day qualifying rounds will be held on Dec 12 and 13 followed by the main rounds.

The main rounds will be played on a draw of 32 out of which 24 players will be included directly on the basis of their world rankings while the remaining eight berths will be at stake in the qualifying rounds.

Since almost all the top players of the international circuit including world No. 1 Peter Nicol of England and former world champion Jonathon Power of Canada will be coming for the tournament, only one or two of Pakistani players will be eligible to compete in the event’s main draw directly.

Presently, only Mansoor Zaman, Pakistan’s only top twenty player in the world, is ranked high enough to be included directly in the World Open main round draw.

The PSA has informed the Pakistani squash officials that they will not be given any wild card for the event as the tournament’s rules do not allow any special berth for the host country.

Raashid said that the PSF, knowing that the Pakistani players were not ranked high enough to make it into the main rounds directly, was now focussing on the qualifiers of the World Open.

He said that the PSF will pick 10 to 12 of the leading young players of the country for a special training camp in preparation for the World Open and disclosed that that the youngsters will be trained by national coach Rahmat Khan and other trainers for the qualifying rounds.

He said that the local youngsters if trained in a professional manner had the potential of not just qualifying for the World Open but also give a good show in the main round of the tournament as well.

Raashid said that in the intital stage, the junior players will train along side the national senior team probables in Islamabad but will later be shifted to Abbottabad.

The Pakistan senior squad probables are presently preparing for the 2003 World men’s Team Championships to be held in Vienna (Austria) this October, under the supervision of Rahmat Khan.

Raashid said that Rahmat will be free of after the conclusion of the Vienna event and will then fully concentrate on the junior players for the World Open.

The PSF official said that he was hoping that around four to five Pakistani players should qualify for the World Open main rounds.—PPI