LAHORE, April 7: A total of 204 players, comprising 162 boys and 42  girls, will take part in the Faysal Bank national junior squash championship to be held at the Punjab Squash Complex from April 10 to 15.

Punjab  Squash Association (PSA) president, Lt  Gen  Zarrar Azim, said at a press conference on Monday that the  championship was carrying cash prizes of Rs 200,000 including Rs 150,000 for the boys and Rs 50,000 for the girls.

The competitions will be held in four age groups,  Under-19, Under-17, Under-15 and Under-13 both in boys and girls’ sections, the president said.

The winners of the Under-19 boys event will earn Rs 60,000, the  Under-17 Rs 40,000, Under-15 Rs  30,000 and Under-13 Rs 20,000. Similarly, the girl who will win the Under-19 event will receive Rs 20,000, Under-17 Rs 13,000, Under-15 Rs 10,000 and Under-13 Rs 7,000.

Khayal Muhammad, will be defending his Under-19 title. Farhan Mahboob who recently won the Asian Championship in Islamabad is the reigning champion of Under-17 section. Adil Atlas and Alam Zeb will defend their titles in the Under-15 and Under-13 sections, respectively.

Sara Awan will enter as the defending champion of the Under- 19 girls event. Muqadas Ashraf, Alia Sarfraz and Marhaba are the defending champions of the Under-17, Under-15 and Under-13 contests, respectively.

Zarar pointed out that construction work at the Nishter Park Squash Complex would resume shortly for which funds were being generated.

The complex will be used for training pending total completion.

He said that Punjab Squash Academy will start soon.

 During the press conference, Bashir A Sheikh, of the sponsors, besides giving a cheque of Rs 300,000 for the junior championship also presented a cheque of Rs 500,000 to the PSA for the academy on behalf of the sponsors.

Zarar said that the PSA had appointed Abdul Rasheed and Munir Ahmed coaches for boys and girls, respectively of the academy.  A building  which  was being used by former World  junior  champion Sohail  Qaiser as his residence has been taken back by the PSA  to build a hostel for the academy.

Tournament director Karamatullah Chaudhary said  that  a total of 72 boys and 37 girls sent entries from Punjab  for  the championship. NWFP and  Sindh  sent  35 and 13 entries, respectively, only in the boys’ section. Balochistan sent 19 boys and  four girls’ entries while PAF Academy also fielded  23  boys and a girl.

He  said that the main draw would be of 16 including  12  who will qualify directly and four who will come through the  two- day qualifying round on April 10 and 11.

The qualifying round only for boys will be held on April  10 and 11 and the main round from April 12 to 15.