ISLAMABAD: Top-ranked Tayyab Aslam and Mohammad Asim Khan will participate in the 20th Asian Senior Individual Squash Championship scheduled to be held from May 1 to 5 in Kuala Lumpur.

The Pakistan Squash Federation after holding the trials on Tuesday announced the names of three players: Tayyab, Asim and Zahir Shah (reserve player).

The Asian Squash Federation has given two slots for each country. Upon availability of the slots, reserve players would also play the championship. The federation said that Group Captain Tahir Sultan would accompany the contingent as coach and manager.

The contingent would depart for Malaysia on April 28, 2019. An official of the PSF said that 12 players were called for the trials, out of which eight took part as four players did not turn up, which included Israr Ahmad, who is in the USA, and Farhan Zaman.

“We selected the players after a competitive process. We are hopeful these players will put up a good show in the Asian Championship,” the official said, and added that the selected Pakistani players have a fair chance for preparing themselves for the Asian Championship, as next month they will have two international events on home courts.

The official said that the PSF was going to hold two mega events next month in which some international players would also participate.

“As far as winning the championship is concerned, ranking wise the Asian players of India, Malaysia and Hong Kong are better, but on their day Pakistani players could defeat any opponent,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2019