ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Squash Circuit-1 for men and women will kick off here at the Mushaf Squash Complex on May 8, Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) announced Thursday.

The tournament will offer prize money of USD 10,000 for men and USD 5,000 for women players. All top-ranked local players will feature in the event.

According to PSF, the men’s qualifying round will start on May 8 followed by the main round from May 10-13.

Whereas, in women’s event, 16 top national players have been included for the main round only. The semi-finals and finals of the event will be played on May 12 and 13 respectively.

Pakistan’s top players Farhan Zaman, Asim Khan, Tayyab Aslam, Farhan Mehboob, Israr Ahmed, Khawaja Adil Maqbool, Zeeshan Khan, Umair Zaman, Amaad Fareed, Syed Ali Bukhari, Shoaib Hassan and wild card entrant Abbas Zeb will be in the main round of 16 players, where four qualifiers will join them.

While, in the women’s event, there is no qualifying round, rather a main draw of 16 players will be organised, in which Noreena Shams, Anam Mustafa Aziz, Faiza Zafar, Madina Zafar, Zhahab Kamal, Noor ul Huda, Moqaddas Ashraf, Saima Shoukat, Amna Fayyaz, Riffat Khan, Zoya Khalid, Rushna Mehboob, Komal Khan, Noor-ul-Ain Ejaz, Aiman Shahbaz and Nimra Aqeel.

Speaking to Dawn, secretary PSF Tahir Sultan said the tournament is recognised by the Professional Squash Association and “the beauty of this championship is that all Pakistani players are participating in it, which provides them an opportunity of improving their international ranking.”

He said, after this tournament, the PSF will also organise an international event in Lahore in June and then in Karachi in July, and in these two tournaments only local players will participate.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2018