KARACHI, Sept 4: The eighth Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) International Squash Championship breaks-off at the PN Roshan-Jahangir Squash Complex on Wednesday with 16 players including seven foreigners vying for the glory sans defending champion Adrian Grant from England.

Of the 16, eleven seeded players and a local who got a wildcard were directly placed in the main draw. They were joined by four qualifiers.

Egypt’s Karim Darwish who is ranked 12th in the world, has been top seeded. He is followed by two Pakistanis — Mansoor Zaman (25th) and Aamir Atlas Khan (29th).

Besides Karim, other foreigners who are in contention for title include Tony James, Bradley Hindle (Australia), Liam Kenny (Ireland); Amr Swelim, Sherif Kamel (Egypt) and Dylan Bannet (The Netherlands).

Shahid Zaman (46th), Farhan Mahboob (59th) and Mohammad Shah Nawaz (wildcard) are the three other home players who got direct entry in the main round.

The four players who came from qualifying round are Yasir Butt, M. Shoaib Hassan, Waqar Mehboob and Shamsul Islam Khan.

Eight first round matches are on card for the opening day. The formal opening will be held at 3.00pm.

The quarter-finals are to be played next day followed by the two semi-finals on Friday. The final is fixed for Saturday.

The event carries total prize money of US $ 25,000.

Instituted in 2000, the event has been mostly dominated by foreigners with only one exception. Amjad Khan had claimed the title in its inaugural edition and since then home players are lagging behind.

Results:

Qualifying round two: Yasir Butt bt Arshad Iqbal Burki 11-5, 11-9, 11-7; M. Shoaib Hassan bt Safeerullah Khan 11-10, 10-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-3; Waqar Mehboob bt Kashif Khan 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 3-11, 11-4; Shamsul Islam Khan bt Ahmad Hameed 11-6, 11-5, 11-6.Wednesday’s fixtures: (main round) Matches starts at 11.00am.

Waqar Mehboob (Pak) v Mansoor Zaman (Pak); v Sherif Kemel (Egy) v Dylan Bannet (Ned); M. Shoaib Hassan (Pak) v Aamir Atlas (Pak); Shamsul Islam Khan (Pak) v Farhan Mehboob (Pak); Liam Kenny (Irl) v Yasir Butt (Pak); Shahid Zaman (Pak) v Shah Nawaz (Pak); Karim Darwish (Egy) v Tony James (Aus); Amr Swelim (Egy) v Bradley Hindle (Aus).