KARACHI, Dec 29: Pakistan squash received a severe blow on Monday when top three seeds pulled out from the main round of Rs0.2 million Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Open squash championship which begins at PN Roshan Khan–Jahangir Khan complex on Tuesday.

Those who have withdrawn their candidature include top seed Farhan Mehboob (Peshawar), No 2 Yasir Butt (Lahore) and No 3 Shamsul Islam (Quetta).

“Their sudden withdrawal at the eleventh hour has forced us to revise the seeding,” secretary of the Sindh Squash Association Tahir Khanzada told Dawn.

He said the three players have informed the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) about their withdrawal.

Sindh’s No 1 Kashif Khan who was seeded fourth in the previous list has been promoted to top slot. He is followed by Shaikh Saqib, Hamza Bokhari and Aurangzeb Mahmoond, all from Lahore, respectively.

Meanwhile, two players from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Navy, have qualified for the main draw.

The four qualifiers are Jahanzaib Masood (Sindh), Tariq Khan (Punjab), Azam Khan Sr (Sindh) and Farhan Zaman (PN).Karachi’s promising player Saad Shahid, who the other day created quite a stir by getting the better of top ranked qualifier Owais Khan of NWFP in five set duel, went down to Jahanzaib Masood 10-12, 9-11, 14-16 in a closely fought battle.

Results (final qualifying round):

Jahanzaib Masood (Sindh) bt Saad Shahid (Sindh) 12-10, 11-9, 16-14; Tariq Khan (Punjab) bt M. Yousuf (Sindh) 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8; Azam Khan Sr. (Sindh) bt Abbas Ali (Balochistan) 11-8, 11-6, 11-7; Farhan Zaman (PN) bt Nousherwan (NWFP) 11-7, 11-6, 11-5.

Tuesday’s fixtures: (Matches begins at 11.00am).

Kashif Khan (Sindh) v Tariq Khan (Punjab); Owais Khan (NWFP) v Jahanzaib Masoosd (Sindh); Hamza Bukhari (Punjab) v Abbas Ali (Balochistan); Nouman Zaman (Sindh) v Jahangir Khan Jr; Farhan Zaman (PN) v Nousherwan (NWFP); Saad Shahid (Sindh) v Auragzaib Mahmoond (Punjab); Azam Khan Sr. (Sindh) v M. Naeem (PN); Mahad Javed (Sindh) v Sheikh Saqib (Punjab).