KARACHI, Oct 28: The Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) International Squash Championship carrying a lucrative purse of $25,000 gets into action from Nov 3.

The main round is to be preceded by two-day pre-qualifying rounds which starts on Oct 30 and qualifying round slated for Nov 1 and 2.

The details of the annual spectacle which was launched in 2001, were unfolded by the tournament director, Commodore Imtiaz Ahmad, Commanding Officer, PN Karsaz, at a press conference held at the PN Roshan-Jahangir complex on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s Farhan Mehboob, ranked 29th in the world who finished runner-up to Egypt’s Karim Darwish last year, has been top seeded in the main draw.

He is followed by home players Aamir Atlas Khan, Mansoor Zaman and New Zealand based Pakistani Kashif Shuja.

Unfortunately, the event has attracted only two foreigners — Campbell Grayson and Martin Knight, both from New Zealand and ranked 78th and 92nd in the world respectively.

Other Pakistanis who are directly placed in the main draw are Yasir Butt, Khawaja Adil Maqbool, Majid Khan, Shahid Zaman, Shamsul Islam Khan and Farhan Zaman (wild card).

According to details, top four players from the pre-qualifying round will advance to the next stage and join 12 qualifiers in a draw of 16.

Again top four players of the qualifiers will move to the main round to complete the 16-man draw.

The quarter-finals will be played on Nov 4 and followed by semi-finals the next day. Curtain fell on the championship on Nov 6.

It is, however, surprising that no Pakistani has been able to lay his hands on the CNS title since its inception.