ISLAMABAD, March 1: The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) International Squash Championship which opened on Saturday has attracted five foreign players.

The tournament features Egyptians Mohammad Abbas and Ramy Ashour and India’s Ritkwik Bhattacharya all of whom are in the main round.

Two other foreigners — Scotland’s Kristen Johnson and UAE’s Tariq Manzoor — are on the qualifying list of the $25,000 championship to be contested at the Mushaf Squash Complex.

President of the Punjab Squash Association (PSA), Lt. Gen (Retd) Zarrar Azim, told a news conference on Wednesday that initially there were 10 entrants from abroad.

“Five of them later pulled out for separate reasons,” he said.

In the main draw, Pakistan’s Shahid Zaman is the best ranked player at No 17 followed by Abbas who is No 20.

The pre-qualifying round of the championship will begin from Saturday followed by the qualifying competition on March 6-7. The event gets underway in earnest on March 8 with the final on 11th.

Main round players: Shahid Zaman (Pak), Yasir Butt (Pak/WC), Khayal Muhammad Khan, Ramy Ashour (Egy), Amjad Khan (Pak), Arshad Iqbal Burki (Pak), Aamir Atlas Khan (Pak), Mansoor Zaman (Pak), Shamsul Islam Khan (Pak), Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind), Basit Ashfaq (Pak), Muhammad Abbas (Egy).