ISLAMABAD, April 13: Four English players and an Australian have pulled out of the Pakistan Circuit No. 2 qualifying rounds starting in Lahore later this month.

Secretary of the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), Wing Commander Sajid Waheed said that Ben Garner, Andrew Whipp, Ben Howell and Peter Barker, all from England and Glenn Keenan of Australia had withdrawn. He did not say why.

Their decision to skip the championship means that Pakistanis Majid Khan, Khayal Muhammad, Zubair Ali Khan, Khalid Atlas and Safeerullah Khan will now be competing in the qualifiers.

The tournament features Karim Darwish of Egypt who is the top seed followed by Pakistan’s Mansoor Zaman at No 2.

Among others in the main round include Egyptians Amr Shabana, Omar Elborossy, Muhammad Abbas and Wael El Hindi, England’s Adrian Grant, Australian Den Jenson and Malaysia’s Mohd Azlan Iskander.

Besides Mansoor, the other Pakistanis in the main round are Shahid Zaman, Farrukh Zaman and wild card Saeed Hassan.

Four players will qualify for the main round to complete a draw of 16.