ISLAMABAD: Pakistani players are not seeded in the World Junior Squash Individual Championships, scheduled to be held at Devoy Squash and Fitness Centre in Tauranga, New Zealand from July 19-24.

According to the World Squash Federation draws, Zeeshan Zeb will compete with New Zealand’s Lwamba Chileshe in the first round. While Abdul Malik

Imran, who got bye in the first round will take on India’s Yash Fadte in the second round.

Similarly, Mansoor Zaman Junior also got bye in the first round to contest with Germany’s Tobias Weggen in the second round, while Abbas Zeb will meet Veer Chotrani of India in the second round after getting bye in the first round.

Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim and Hania El Hammamy are top seeds in the men’s and women’s events, respectively. Both are the semifinalists of the 2016 championships in Poland.

Ibrahim, an 18-year-old left-hander from Cairo, is ranked 119 in the world and is expected to face second seed Mohammad Al Sarraj of Jordon in the final. The 18-year-old from Amman would be the first Jordanian to reach the event’s final.

El Hammamy, also from Cairo but only 16 years old is the reigning British Junior U19 Open champion. The world No.36 is predicted to line up against compatriot Zeina Mickawy in the final. From Alexandria, the 18-year-old was runner-up to El Hammamy in the British Junior Open final in January.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2017